A New Friend With Old Enemies
by weasel20
Summary: A man appears as Rei is about to be raped only to be saved by a stranger with unexplainable skills. Who is he? And why is he so afraid to get closer to them? Can they break through his shell in time to save him or will he end up a victim to something far more terrifying than Them?
1. Saving the Damsel

Don't own jack shit. Fuck off.

Japanese

 _English_

* * *

"TAKASHI!" was all Takashi needed to hear to know that something bed had happened outside while he was getting some money for gas.

"Rei!" he thought as he rushed outside with his bat ready to help Rei defend herself from them only to see her with a knife to her throat held hostage by some gangster wannabe.

"Wow you got some nice tits girly."

"Let her go!" Takashi yelled trying to get Rei away from the rapist.

"Now why would I do that?" The man questioned, "Here's what's going to happen you little shit. You're going to drop the bat and give me your bike. If you do that I might think about letting your little girlfriend go." The man ordered as he groped Rei and pressed the knife into her throat allowing a crimson tear to make its way down her throat.

"Fine. Fine. Let me fill it up first." Takashi said to try and buy some time to think of a way to get both Rei and him out of this situation.

After filling the bike up Takashi said "There the bikes full now please let her go."

"Why would I do something like that? I ain't had some pussy this fine in a long time. I'm gonna enjoy taking her and showing her what a real man can do." The gangster said as Rei suddenly began thrashing harder in the man's grip screaming "NO!"

"What's this? You ain't popped her yet? HA! Now you definitely are never going to get her back. I'm going to break her into nothing but my perso-" The gangster was interrupted as a shadow separated from the bushes behind him grabbing his knife hand and extending it before bringing his left hand in and shattering his elbow by bending it 90 degrees beyond what it was meant to do before taking the knife with his right hand from his now nerveless fingers, spinning in a tight circle before plunging the blade into the man's skull.

" _I don't believe that the little lady appreciates that."_ The man said to the new corpse as Rei broke free from the gangster's now dead hands and jumped into Takashi's arms. "Hello," He said to the stunned students "I'm Conall McLoughlin."

"Thank you." Takashi said as he tried to comfort Rei from her trauma. "I'm Takashi and this is Rei." As Takashi stood there he examined the stranger who called himself Conall. He had brown hair, and round blue eyes depicting him as a foreigner, he was about 170 centimeters tall with a slim build. He was wearing military combat pants and a green and black t-shirt with a skull with 2 broadswords crossed behind it.

"Do either one of you speak English?" Conall asked before seeing the clueless looks on their faces. Rei and Takashi were in English class but neither one had a good grasp of the language yet. Connall sighed before pointing at the Rei and Takashi with two fingers before pointing at himself with one before putting all three in a group and 'hopping' them along as if asking permission to follow them. Takashi looked at Rei asking if she would mind having a male stranger with them after what had just happened.

"If I'm going to be scared of everyone I might as well stop now and let Them have me." Rei replied before pantomiming that he could follow them. Conall smiled and thanked them before asking them which direction they were going by pointing a finger out at every road individually and then shrugging his shoulders. Rei knew where they were and pointed at where they were going before noticing the hoard of Them that lay between them and the road.

Conall and Takashi saw Them at the same time and as Takashi started to quickly mime to Conall that they had to go a different way Conall simply signaled for them lto get on the bike and to follow him. Rei and Takashi looked at Conall as if he had lost his mind as he walked head on into the hoard singing a song that they couldn't understand.

As Conall approached the hoard he began singing in a normal voice " _Axes flash and Broadswords swing, shining armors piercing ring, horses run with a polished shield, fight those bastards till they yield_." As he hit the first line of Them he lashed out with an open hand to the face of the first one as he reached for him resulting a nasty crunch before he fell to the ground never to rise. As Connall continued to unleash hell upon those that would harm him and his new companions he saw that there were more than he could comfortably handle with the others behind him. And the bike was a crotch rocket which meant it had less off road abilities than his. Upon realizing his mistake Connall stopped singing mid-verse and began throwing Them into one another with such grace and speed that Rei was astounded.

After fighting his way through 20 or so of Them Conall signaled for the two of them to follow through the path before it was shut by the rest of the hoard. As Takashi started up his bike Conall darted into and ally way and reappeared as they drove past on a Honda 650cc Nighthawk. Conall sped up and drove beside them for a moment signaling to Rei that he would follow them before slowing to fall in behind them.

An hour later it was well past dark and Conall noticed that Takashi was beginning to drift in his lane a little bit. Conall sped up and signaled a stop and began to mime that they needed to stop for the night. Neither one put up a fuss knowing that it was true. Conall continued to mime that the house across the street, a three story affair with a walled in yard, would be the best for them to crash in for the night after he cleared it. As he kept miming Rei noticed that his miming included or bastardized many of the normal signs from her sign language class.

Deciding to take a chance in hopes of furthering communication with the man Rei began to use some of the signs from her class while finger spelling anything that she didn't know the sign for. As she began Conall stopped his signing first adopting a puzzled look on his face at what she was doing before grinning like a mad man before enthusiastically replying in a very fluent manner. A far cry from his previous broken signs and exaggerated motions. Rei quickly stopped him telling him that she had only had one year of the class and while she could read finger spelling quite well she didn't know enough signs to hold a conversation before having to revert to finger spelling.

Conall quickly instructed them to take the bikes inside the wall as he made a distraction for Them that had closed in on their location during their discovery. Conall reached into his saddle bag quickly grapping a small firecracker and a lighter before moving a short ways from them. He lit the fire cracker before throwing it just in front of the group before signaling for Takashi and Rei to move quickly. The fire cracker went off releasing several bright flashes and a muted high pitched whistling sound not that different form a flash bang.

Takashi settled his bike first as Conall darted through the gate before closing it as quietly as he could as taking some rope from his pocket he quickly tied the gate shut. As he finished he saw Rei having some trouble with his bike as it was much heavier and bulkier than most bikes in Japan. Conall walked up and gently took the handle bars from Rei before shoving the bike forward over the hump in the ground that Rei had been stuck on before kicking the stand out and resting the bike.

As Conall fixated himself working on the bikes Takashi quickly dragged Rei to the side before asking "What was that?"

"What the hand signs?" Rei replied

"Yeah. Is he deaf or something?" Takashi asked having taken German as his foreign language.

"I don't think so." Rei said, "I thing that's the only language that we have in common. Neither of us took English for middle school so the only thing I can come up with is that he only knows English and Sign Language. And maybe a couple phrases in Japanese considering he introduced himself after he rescued me."

"So what were you saying outside?" Takashi asked while hoping that Saeko remembered the English class she took in Middle School.

"Oh, he was saying that you were swaying a little in your lane and that you were probably unused to so much constant exertion for prolonged periods of time. This coupled with the mental trauma of what we are going through it'd be better if we made camp here for the night instead of risking being hit by one of them while we are tired. He saw this house and thought that after clearing it that we could stay here for the night before taking off in the morning. It has a second story for lookout and a wall to help keep Them out." Rei said before yawning causing poor Takashi to nearly die of blood loss from seeing the amount of cleavage she had displayed during her stretch.

As they finished their talk Conall walked up before holding out a fist to Takashi. Takashi held out his hand as Connall dropped the spark plugs from his bike into his hand. Seeing his questioning look Conall signed as Rei translated that the bikes were much less likely to be stolen in the night if they couldn't start.

Conall turned around before either could say anything and grabbed a small bag beside his bike and began making his way to the front door. Reaching the door Conall tried to open it but it wouldn't budge. Mumbling something that Takashi didn't think was a compliment Conall dug through his bag and pulled out a small case which he opened to reveal a lock picking set that Takashi was sure couldn't be legal. With the air of a seasoned pro Conall quickly set to work on the lock which gave in under 2 minutes.

Seeing this Takashi couldn't help but become worried about this man that had appeared out of nowhere with skills that weren't part of any job that Takashi knew of and that he had allowed to follow them and who, for the moment, was leading them into a strangers house with who knows how many of Them inside. Finally realizing the position that he had put himself and Rei in Takashi's palms began to sweat as he envisioned all sorts of horrors this man could inflict on them and that they would be powerless to stop.

Conall, who was ignoring everything but the lock and the threat inside, Pushed open the door before quickly making his way through the house room by room checking for blood, bodies, anything out of the ordinary that could possibly indicate a presence other than theirs inside the house. Room by room was cleared under his expert eye before he advanced to the second floor repeating the process. After he had disappeared from sight Rei saw Takashi's face and mannerisms were off before asking him, "What's wrong?"

"Well, the world is going to hell, the streets are full of man-eating things that would happily kill us, you were taken hostage and almost raped right in front of me and I couldn't do anything about it, and to top it all off I'm risking you and me with a man we've never met before who appeared out of nowhere and is able to kill a man with his bare hands without batting an eye about it afterwards. And now we are breaking into a strangers home about to spend the night in said home with aforementioned killer and there's nothing to stop him from doing whatever he wants to with us." Takashi said bluntly.

"He risked his life to help us out. If all he wanted was to hurt us he could have saved himself a lot of trouble and done it when he first met us. He killed that man and all I felt was a slight pressure as he was killed. He could have do the same thing to you and me if he felt like it." Rei said.

As she finished talking Connall came back signing that the house was clean. Takashi and Rei followed him back into the house before they split up. Takashi headed to the kitchen to find some food for dinner while Rei headed upstairs to claim a bed and shower. Connall watched as they separated before heading to the garage.

* * *

Connall's Viewpoint

* * *

I had just finished sweeping the house before signing to the chick that it was safe for now. I watched as they separated, they guy seemed to be more wary of me now as his mind finally processed the events of the day. I left them alone in the house to give them space so they'd feel safer. I started to look around the garage for any tools that I might need later or were of better quality than my current set. As I was rifling through my third chest of drawers I stumbled upon a gold mine of high quality metal already pre-formed into semi-weapon like shape.

Excited by my discovery I began my search with fresh vigor trying to find the metal working tools that had to be around somewhere. After all the guys gun had only so many rounds and with how he didn't even reach for it when his girl was in trouble he obviously had no comfort with the damn thing leading me to believe that he was either a peacenik pussy or had no experience with the damn thing making it a liability instead of an asset.

The metal would allow me to make weapons for them that way we could be much more quiet and they would never run out of ammunition. The only problem was what weapon for the guy. The girl was obviously a martial artist with how she handled her mop handle and never let it go after her attack. She was used to using a staff or spear then and a spear was only a staff with a pointy end attached. I could fashion her a much more robust spear and the Takashi kid could make due with a mace since he'd been doing pretty well with his bat. The bat was inefficient when used as a weapon since its increased surface area led to decreased force making him have to hit the same zombie multiple times.

With a plan set for new weapons I returned to the house to find the two teens in the kitchen surrounded by food which would help replace the calories lost by the excitement and constant activity throughout the day. Rei saw me as I entered the doorway and waved me over before handing me a plate and silverware and waving at the food inviting me to eat. I grabbed some ham looking meat , green beans, and other bits of leftovers from the food provided. As I sat down Rei and Takashi glanced at each other and as I tucked into my dinner Rei began to sign who I was and other questions about my history.

"My name is Connall McLoughin." I said in Japanese before switching to sign language due to my limited vocabulary in their language. "Do you have a group to get to? Or are you alone as well?" They looked at each other then at me in askance to my reply. "I have a long and bloody history with nothing even remotely resembling a normal life or childhood. So you'll have to understand if I don't wish to repeat myself.

Rei and Takashi seemed startled at my answer before Rei asked how old I was. I told her I was 21 before she replied saying that she and Takashi were both 17. She continued with saying that their group ranged from 17 to 25 years old. Finally answered my question on if they were in a group or not. I finished my food and signed that if they still wished to know some of my history they would have to earn my trust first and rejoin their group if they still wished to know.

"Not like Vigilate Mortem can do anything about a breach in confidentiality now anyways." I muttered to myself. Rei and Takashi looked at me as I said this so I quickly changed the subject asking what weapon types they preferred since Takashi's six-shooter was too limited to rely on. Rei signed that her father taught her how to use a spear and she had never lost a match while Takashi had no formal experience with weapons.

I shrugged about his revelation since I had expected as much. As Takashi finished his dinner he yawned which set Rei to yawning as well. I smirked at this before telling Rei to go to bed and to take Takashi with her. She blushed a little at the implication hidden within the innocent statement so I ribbed her a little more signing that she had to stay quiet so as not to attract anyone or anything so if Takashi was too good they would have to stop. Her blush went atomic and I laughed as I took my dishes to the sink. Takashi seemed pretty dense as he started to fret over his friend asking her if she was ok. As Rei and Takashi left I signed that I'd take first watch before heading to the garage to occupy my time through the night.


	2. Meet the group

Don't own jack shit. Fuck off.

Japanese

 _English_

* * *

As he awoke Connell stretched and wiped the sleep from his eyes before checking on the weapons he had spent all night perfecting. Only sleeping when the metal needed to cool. Both weapons were simple in their make and yet seemed to possess an elegance that would normally be reserved for museums or ballrooms.

The spear had a fine hardwood shaft sanded smooth with engravings to allow a solid grip even when wet. The wood was stained a light maple color allowing the beauty of the wood to shine through. The spear tip itself was slightly larger than what was normally used with Celtic designs engraved into the metal on both sides. The mace was of identical design with six ridges bulging from the head equidistant from each other to better crush skulls with alternating Celtic crosses and 4-leaf clovers between the ridges.

To the right of both were 2 short swords with curved blades reminiscent of the Gurkhas khukuri. Far less ornate than its sibling weapons with only a skull engraved in the fattest part of the blade and runes of unknown meaning carved into the metal near the hilt. The wooden handles were heavily engraved with deep grooves to ensure a solid grip even when covered in blood and gore.

Connall gathered his wits and after a quick bath in the downstairs shower he returned fully clothed and sheathed the khukuris in and X across his back. As he left he grabbed the completed weapons in his left hand and a medium duffel bag in his right which had a large, long piece of metal wrapped in cloth disguising its identity. As he entered the main house Connall heard small thumps as someone finally awakened and then heard the shower start in a different side of the house indicating both teens were up.

He headed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the small group content that they would be down by the time he finished. Takashi came down first about an hour later and sat at the table before staring at the weapons on Connall's back and the two on the table. As he ogled the new weapons Rei came down enticed by the aroma of a western style buffet breakfast of pancakes, orange juice, milk, and other breakfast foods of the west.

As she sat down Connall came over with plates piled high with food for them to eat. As they ate Takashi kept staring at the weapons on the table trying to figure out where they came from as he was positive that they didn't have weapons like that the night before. Rei finally noticed the spear as she ate due to her not being a morning person. Her eyes widened as she looked at the beautiful work laid before her.

Connall smirked at her reaction before signing for her to finish breakfast first before asking too many questions. After she finished she immediately bombarded him with questions such as where did he find them and did he know what he had found. Connall replied that he had made them overnight before apologizing that they were as plain as they were due to his limited time and tools. Rei's jaw dropped as he told her this. He continued that the spear was for her and the mace was for Takashi. These weapons would serve them much better than their improvised ones.

Rei was astounded at the beauty held in the simplistic design of the spear. As she hefted the spear she marveled at the exceptional balance and the ease with which she could maneuver it. Takashi took up his new weapon as well to test it's balance and weight. While the spear was of similar length to the mop handle Rei had been using, Takashi's mace was only 2/3 the size of the bat while being of similar weight to the bat. Connell gave them a little time to familiarize themselves with their new weapons before getting their attention and signing that they needed to move while there was still plenty of daylight to search for the rest of their group.

After reassembling the bikes and checking for any faults Takashi led the small group out of the gates and they began their trek to regroup with the rest of the Takashi's friends. As they were driving along one of the service roads that ran parallel to one of the many waterways that crisscrossed the city Takashi saw a hoard of Them crowding to one end of the bridge. Takashi strained his eyes in hopes of maybe being able to help and noticed a wooden blade flashing in the morning light with trails of crimson blood following the blade. His eyes followed the blade to its wielder before realizing that it was Saeko! Takashi gunned his engine warning Rei to get ready as he sped for the slope to get up to the bridge his friends were on.

* * *

Connall's Viewpoint

* * *

I saw Takashi all the sudden gun his throttle and speed off for the slope up to a bridge that was already covered with zombies.

" _Shit! What the hell is that stupid fuck doing?!" I_ cursed under his breathe as I tried to understand my friends apparent death wish. I looked at the hoard closer and saw a several people fighting desperately against the hoard to save their lives. I saw Takashi and Rei were going to approach from behind the main group but they were never going to make it in time at the rate the group was loosing ground. I saw an abandoned tow truck with its trailer still down forming a crude ramp. As I sped towards the ramp all I could think was that this was a bad idea, as my tires left the ramp I knew it was a very bad idea, and as the bridge covered with zombies that began to look towards my noisy airborne bike I began to wonder if I would survive this very bad idea.

As I landed I was forced to lay the bike down and fall off as it continued wiping out a line of zombies ahead of me. I skid to a stop and as I opened my eyes thoroughly surprised at how well I could breathe and move my extremities I looked up and saw a beautiful young Valkyrie slaying many of the zombies with a wooden sword. As I watched her slay several zombies with precision and speed I realized that I was neither dead nor dying and that my new friends needed my help or we would all die. As I attempted to rise I felt a stirring in my guts from watching the young lady continue her slaughter.

For the first time in many years I panicked. I leapt up from the concrete ignoring the screeching in my bruised muscles and drawing my twin kukris. I sprinted into the hoard to protect the group and give the zombies a new, closer, target. Unleashing skills that I had buried and thought forgotten for years I unleashed hell on earth upon the monsters that sought to hurt my new friends. I slayed zombie after zombie with as much speed and skill as I could to keep them back and before long I was joined my the maiden from before, her long black hair swaying in her wake as she killed and pushed Them back away from herself giving her time to smash her wooden sword into their skulls releasing them from their unnatural state.

* * *

As Connell and his new friend slaughtered the zombies from the front Rei and Takashi finally arrived at the rear of the, now much smaller, hoard and dismounted the bike before beginning their own campaign against them. Takashi led smashing his new mace into the skull of the first monster utterly crushing the skull and causing the brain to hemorrhage, as much as one can without a beating heart, leaving the zombie totally dead instead of the mostly dead it was a few moments before. Takashi marveled at the efficiency of his new weapon as he had only applied a quarter of the force he would normally use.

As Takashi was momentarily distracted by his new weapons capabilities Rei moved past him her spear singing as it cut through the air before burying itself deep into the frontal lobe of the next thing in line as it approached her friend. Rei marveled for a moment at the ease with which the blade punched through the tough bone before removing the blade from the things skull with a sickening squelch. She then swung the spear severing multiple heads in one swing thanks to the unique extended blade of the spear. Takashi recovered from his short spell of amazement as Rei continued to dispatch multiple zombies with ease however she was getting too deep into the mob of bodies to swing her spear effectively.

Takashi quickly removed his mace from the bloody mess of bone and brain matter and ran to Rei's aide as one of Them finally got lucky and snagged her shirt. As Rei let out a startled scream Takashi's mace almost immediately found a new home in the monsters skull. The two childhood friends engaged in a macabre dance of death with Rei slaying Them at a distance with Takashi swooping in on any that cam close to her.

They quickly made their way through the rest of the hoard and came to a stop next to Connall and Saeko. Saeko saw her friends and they dropped back slightly as there were not many of Them left and Connall appeared to have no trouble slaughtering the unnatural monsters. Saeko quickly embraced her lost friends as the last of the monsters died under Connall's blades. The rest of the group quickly joined in welcoming their friends unexpected and timely arrival.

* * *

Connall's Viewpoint

* * *

As the last of the zombies fell I twirled my weapons to rid them of their coating of blood before sheathing them. I didn't move as I fought back the demon's of my past before finally shutting them away once more. 'Why now?" I thought as a struggled to regain my breathing, "I've been in much tighter spots and it shows itself now after a couple scrapes and a little fight, this makes no sense. I'll have to worry about it later." I thought as I turned to meet the rest of Takashi and Rei's group.

They seemed like a tight bunch if the group hug was anything to go by. As they broke up their hug I stepped towards them content to wait until they noticed my presence before intruding on their moment. God knows they wouldn't have much to celebrate in the coming time.

The girl with the wooden sword was the first to notice me and brought my existence to the attention of the rest of the group as they had begun to question Rei and Takashi about the time they'd had since they had been separated if I understood the inflections in their speech correctly. Rei saw that they had noticed me and began to introduce me to her friends with gusto. She introduced the sword wielder as Saeko Busujima a glasses wearing pink-haired girl as Saya Takagi, a gentle looking blond haired soul as Shizuka Marikawa, and a dark-haired boy with what looked like a modified nail gun as Kohta Hirano.

I bowed to the rest of the group and introduced my self and the group that had just met me tried to say hello in their language before I waved them off signing to Rei to please explain my limited communication skills.

* * *

Rei saw that Connall was quickly getting out of his depth in the language and intervened when he started to sign frantically trying to explain his problem to the rest of the group. Rei quickly stopped her friends from inundating Connall with questions that he wouldn't understand and explained that he didn't speak Japanese except for a few choice phrases and that she had to interpret for him using sign language.

Saeko asked what was his native language in hopes that they could find a dictionary somewhere so that they could learn to speak to one another which would save much time and would allow him to communicate to everyone instead of just Rei. Rei said that his native language was English and asked if any of them had taken any foreign language classes for English.

Seako smirked before looking to Connall asking " _How did you stumble across our friends?"  
_ To which Connall stared at her for a moment before replying " _I stumbled across these two at a gas station where they were trying to refill their tank on their motorcy-"_ Connall stopped mid-sentence before turning and scanning the ground for his bike before finding it on the ground several meters away under several corpses.

As he ran to it pulling the fresh bodies off of his baby he noticed that the front forks were bent, the tank cracked and leaking gas onto the pavement, wiring harness ripped apart as the headlight had been removed from its proper position in a none too gentle manner, and several other problems that would have been difficult if not impossible to fix even before the outbreak.

The group watched as Connall's shoulders slumped and they began to approach him with Saeko asking what was wrong. Connall replied, " _This was a gift from my uncle and my father before they died. I've fixed it more times than I care to count and with the exception of the lessons they taught me as a child this was the last link that I had to them."_ Saeko looked at the bike seeing several things wrong with it even with her inexperienced eyes. Connall sighed as he began to remove every thing that he had from the bike including his backpack and small duffle bag with a long cloth wrapped bundle on top.

Takashi, getting the translation from Saeko, walked up to him and put a consoling hand on his shoulder. "It'll be o.k. As long as you have your memories of them they will always be with you." Even without a translation Connall knew what Takashi was trying to say. As he pulled the last of his items from the saddle bags and packed it away safely in the confines of his bag he began to feel better knowing that his father would be upset if he dwelled on a piece of equipment that had served its usefulness and was now only dead weight; with this in mind Connall backed up and lit a road flare from his pack before igniting the gas as he walked away.

" _So what's the plan now cap'n?"_ Connall asked with his usual manner. The rest of the group sensed his change of mood and began to look to Takashi unconsciously for leadership.

"I don't know." Takashi said "It's too late now to keep looking and with all the noise we've created we need to move but I don't know anyplace around here, Do any of you know a place we can crash at?"  
"Oh, I know a place." Shizuka said "It's my friends place. She lets me stay there sometimes when she's gone for a long time and needs someone to watch the place for her. it's not far from here and it has this big car like a tank."  
"Sounds like a good place. Can you lead us to it?" Rei asked.  
"Absolutely, It's not too far from here."

A couple of blocks later Shizuka proudly presented her friends place. It was a modest 2-story house with a walled-in yard, and a large, American made Hummer in the drive way. Connell smirked as he remembered riding in those when he worked for the organization. The things were absolute gas-guzzlers if not modified properly and while they looked large on the outside they actually had very little room on the inside.

Connell once again volunteered to search the house for any presence of Them inside and, without listening to a word of rebuttal, quickly went inside after Shizuka had unlocked the door. Quickly searching the house from top to bottom Connall came back and told them that the house was clean.

After getting settled into the house the girls decided to take a bath while the boys looked around the house for anything useful. As squeals echoed from inside the bathroom Kohta enlisted Takashi's help prying open a couple of cabinets. In the third cabinet of the T.V. room they stumbled upon a treasure trove of ammunition of all kinds. Connall stumbled into the room after hearing the screeching sound of metal as the boys pried open the cabinet, seeing the ammunition inside the cabinet he began to look around for where the gun safe might be. Kohta spotted a likely culprit hidden slightly behind a rack of movies. Takashi and Connall moved the rack and there stood a metal gun safe with a combination lock and 2 key slots.

Connall smiled as Kohta's face fell upon seeing the locks, there was no way that they could pry open this safe without heavy machinery or explosives. As Kohta consigned himself to not getting any new weapons Connall simply pulled out his lock picking set and began work on the key slots. After about an hour the second of the key slots gave under his assault leaving only a combination lock between them and their prize. Connall left the room then and went down stairs to the kitchen and came back with a small glass cup. He spun the dial several times with the glass pressed against the metal door and his ear pressed against the glass. After moving the glass several times he found where the disks were located and began the slow process of cracking the combination to the lock.

As he worked Kohta and Takashi left the room to give him the silence that he needed to properly hear the disks clicking into place.

Kohta and Takashi waited in the kitchen letting Connall do his thing. Kohta tired of the silence began to ask where the strange man had come from. Takashi spent the next 15 minutes telling Kohta of their travels from the attempted rape of Rei to Connall following them to the group and jumping the gap using the ramp made by a tow truck. Before Kohta could ask any more questions about Connall and his strange skill set they heard a loud, joyous cry from the upstairs room. They both rushed upstairs to find Connall grinning like mad before an open weapons locker.

Kohta began to salivate at the plethora of weapons in the locker. Connall's smirk seemed to grow as Kohta listed the weapons by name and how illegal they were. No matter what language two men spoke there would always be the common language of weapons between the two. Connall walked away to try and find a way onto the roof but was ambushed in the darkened hallway by something. Without thinking Connall threw off the arm and spun his assailant in a circle before grabbing their throat and throwing them up against the wall.

As he held the assailant there he heard a groan and a distinctly feminine voice say something and then hiccup. Getting his bearings Connall saw that it was the tall blond of the group, Shizuka if he remembered correctly, wearing nothing but what God gave her with a towel at her feet thrown there after being torn from her body by his reactions. Connall blushed mightily as he saw her beautiful form before him and realizing that she was naked immediately spun around with such force that he face planted into the wall.

As he crouched down nursing his bloody nose he felt a weight settle itself across his shoulders and felt two distinct lumps against his back and heard her soft voice mumbling something with an occasional hiccup in the mix proving her intoxication. Not one to take advantage of women he picked her up and carried her to her room and laid her down on the bed. As he covered her up he marveled at how she could sleep so easily when so much had changed in the course of a couple days. he left the room quietly and headed for the kitchen.

However as he passed the sitting room he heard a rifle shot and spun on his heels before sprinting to the bedroom that had been designated the watch room. He saw Kohta and Takashi apparently arguing with each other before he interceded and angrily gestured as to why Kohta seemed to have a death wish. Kohta handed his rifle to Connall and pointed at a house about half a block away that had a huge mob before it. Connall brought the scope to his eye and saw what Kohta was trying to protect. A young girl no older than 6 was kneeling next to a man with a stab wound to his upper chest. Judging by her crying and the mans unmoving body he was probably dead.

Another zombie was slowly making his way to the young girl and Connall shot it before it could cause the young girl harm. As he handed back the rifle to Kohta Takashi grabbed his mace and shotgun and stalked to the door yelling something over his shoulder. Kohta replied in an affirmative and began to shoot again. Grabbing his attention Connall gestured for him to shoot until Takashi had the girl and then to go silent to avoid as much attention as possible before he ran downstairs to tell Takashi the plan.

Rei and Saeko were both at the front door talking to Takashi before Connall interrupted them.  
" _Slow down."_ Connall said, " _The only thing you will achieve by going off half-cocked will be your death."_ Takashi faltered for a moment as Saeko translated what was said.  
"Then whats this great plan of yours? We have to hurry if we want to rescue that girl." Takashi yelled.  
" _Kohta is playing sniper and with each shot more of Them will be attracted here. Now I will go first..."_ Saeko slowly translated the plan to Takashi as Connall laid it out. And in less than a minute Takashi was headed across the street as Connall walked down the middle of the road.

When Takashi reached the yard that the girl was in he saw the open gate and signaled for Kohta to watch his back as he closed it. After dashing forward and shoving several of Them back with his bare hands causing them to stumble and falter in their push for a moment he quickly slammed the gate shut before approaching the young girl.

"Are you o.k.?" Takashi asked.  
"My daddy won't get up." She screamed "Why won't he get up?"  
With no way to sugar coat the truth Takashi said, "Your dad is dead. But he died the way any father would, protecting his child. Will you please come with me? The gate won't hold much longer."  
"NO! I want to go with daddy. He said he'd never leave me."  
"So you would waste this chance that your father gave you? You would spit upon his sacrifice?" Takashi said wincing at how callous he sounded.

The little girl stopped for a moment and with tears in her eyes she quietly whispered "No." Takashi grabbed a shirt from the clothes line and draped it over the body and placed a sprig of gladiolus on his chest. Takashi picked up the girl and told the cooling corpse "Don't worry for your daughter. She won't be joining you for as long as I can help it." Remembering what Connall had asked him to do he knelt one last time and placed his hand on the mans forehead and said, "Quietem et pacem." before heading to the wall with the girl on his back and her dog in his jacket walking along the wall watching as Connall walked straight into the mob singing all the while.

* * *

Connall's Viewpoint

* * *

As Takashi made his way back along the wall the zombie were attracted to his footfalls which was where I came in. As he made his way back to the group I walked straight to the singing "Let the bodies hit the floor". I stopped just shy of the first line of zombies and drew my blades as I began the intro to the song. When I hit the first crescendo I opened my eyes once more as they shined in the dark.

As I continued to sing more and more zombies were attracted and with each one I cut down two more took his place. All the sudden as I reached the end of the song having killed at least 50 of the monsters I heard the groan of an engine. Felling those that were within reach of me I leapt back straight into the hood of the Hummer!

Laughing I strafed along the front bumper and heard Saeko yelling at me to get in. Still riding my battle high I leapt over the rest of the hood to join her on the roof laughing all the while.

"It seems we've out stayed our welcome. What say you we find a more hospitable place to stay?" I said

* * *

Saeko's Viewpoint

* * *

Even though he was laughing I saw a glint in his eyes. Almost unnoticeable but there all the same if you knew what you were looking at.

I chuckled at his lame joke before calling to the others that we were set and could move on.

His eyes gave him away. Although he smiled and laughed at cheating death it never reached his eyes. Those eyes that had seen so much held the spark, so much like my own and yet so different. But how long could he hold it back? It was impossible to control, just as one could never control a hurricane or an earthquake. How long until he too was lost?


	3. Separation and a history

I'm a college student. Do the math.

"Japanese"

" _English"_

* * *

Connall awoke the next morning with the gentle lapping of waves against the shoreline and the purring of an engine as Shizuka drove the Hummer across the shallowest section of canal that they could find. Connall sat up and began his morning stretches waiting for the rest of the group to wake up and to prepare for the day.

He didn't have to wait long as Shizuka made land fall with a gentle bump that woke up Takashi and Saeko, who was using Takashi as a pillow. Saya was the next to awaken and felt a strange weight on her shoulder and looking over saw Kohta using her much like Saeko and Rei were using Takashi. She quickly put an end to it by throwing poor Kohta into the opposite side of the car which woke him up. Takashi woke up Rei after Saeko pointed out the position they were in and soon the only one left sleeping was the new girl and her dog.

They stopped once the Hummer was out of the canal and back on dry land to stretch from being crammed in the Hummer and Kohta woke up the little girl so she could take a chance to stretch her legs. Once they were all out of the Hummer Connall quickly grabbed a small bag from his pack and ran up the rest of the bank to take a lookout position. Kohta followed him interested in why he wanted such a position when he had no long range weapons. When he reached the top of the embankment he saw Connall dumping the contents of the bag on the ground revealing a plethora of laser sensors and 4 motion activated lights.

Connall looked around for the best sight lines that could cover every approach with as little equipment as possible. Seeing that there were no tunnels and that they could see any one coming from along the bank he grabbed two lasers and pointed them at the bridge pylons since so nothing could bypass them and sneak up on them. He then took the motion activated light and pointed the lights towards the Hummer and the motion sensor over the lasers so that if anything moved towards them from that direction the light would activate and give them time, however limited, to prepare for what ever was coming.

Kohta looked over the setup looking for any weak points in the simplistic set-up and upon seeing non he marveled at how well the man had covered the approaches towards the group with so little equipment. Connall smirked at the chubby boy's face as he saw an array of emotions from disbelief to awe as he overlooked the setup Connall had just made. Connall got Kohta's attention and gestured that they should join the rest of the group before they started breakfast without them.

Kohta took one last look at the setup and then followed the Connall down to the group where they could be properly introduced to the newest member of their rag-tag little band. As they approached the others food was being brought out and upon seeing that they would have to make do with a cold breakfast Rei and Takashi groaned quietly remembering the breakfast that Connall had prepared for them the day before. Connall looked at the two with a smile tugging at the corners of his lips as if knowing exactly what the two were mentally fussing about.

After they had finished their canned breakfast Takashi introduced the little girl to the rest of the group. Connall sat next to Saeko to get a translation as the rest of the group introduced themselves in turn. They introduced them selves by stating their name, age, and favorite food.

"I'm Takashi, I'm 17 and I like ramen."  
"I'm Rei, I'm also 17 and I like dango."  
"I'm Saeko, I'm 19, and I like salad."  
"I'm Connall," He began before switching to his native language with Saeko translating, " _I'm 21, and I like steak."  
_ "I'm Kohta, I'm 17, and I like pizza."  
"I'M Shizuka, I'm 22 and I like oden."  
"I'm Saya, I'm 18 and I like sukiyaki."

After introducing themselves they all looked at the little girl in askance of who she was.

"I'm Alice, I'm 5 and I like rain drop cake." she said causing the rest of the group to chuckle at her liking of the dessert.

After finishing their breakfast and relaxing and talking amongst themselves for a little while they all piled into the Hummer with Saeko joining Connall on the roof to avoid the cramped quarters of the interior causing him to chuckle as the group had finally discovered the second biggest annoyance of the mammoth vehicle. As they drove through the outskirts the happy atmosphere of earlier was replaced with one of anxiousness and dread as the longer they drove they continued to not happen upon a single one of Them.

Finally after 3 hours of driving they happened upon their first one who was shambling across the road. Shizuka took a right at the first road only to happen upon an entire mob of them on the street. She quickly began to take random turns trying to find a clear road only to find more and more of Them as she continued. Connall looked ahead and saw that further down the street the path became clear again at the same time as Saya. Saya told Shizuka to gun the engine and run Them over and continue on since her house was not too far away. Saeko saw something different. She saw a glint of something hanging across the road and screamed for Shizuka to stop, but it was too late.

Shizuka slammed on the brakes and turned the wheel to try and avoid whatever was on the road only to put the vehicle into a skid. Connall saw they wouldn't stop in time and tripped Saeko onto the roof from her standing position before jumping on top of her and grabbing onto the roof rack with all his strength trying to keep both of them on the roof. Those inside the Hummer were not so lucky. Not using their seatbelts they were thrown about inside the unforgiving metal chassis and all of them except Alice were bruised and bloody before they could even get out of the car and into a fight.

The zombies hearing the crash from blocks around began to converge on the vehicle. Saeko was the first to react and threw Connall from on top of her and with her wooden sword advanced on the closest of Them and began to dispatch them in an effort to give the others time to act. The rest of the group began to get their bearings inside the vehicle but it was clear that they would be useless in a fight with their current wounds.

* * *

Connall's Viewpoint

* * *

After Saeko threw me off of her I looked in the vehicle to ascertain the shape that the rest of the group was in. They picked themselves off of each other and the floor and looked around with glazed eyes and a confused look. Seeing the clear signs of concussions and with Shizuka being the only one in any shape to move since she was the only one wearing her seat belt I sighed knowing that if we survived this fight and if I wished to stay with them I would have to answer many questions that they were likely not going to like the answers to.

I hopped off the roof and saw Saeko trying to buy the rest of the group time to recover by leaping forward into the front ranks, dispatching 2 or 3 of them before retreating out of their reach. I reached under the Hummer and grabbed a cloth wrapped object that I had had since I could remember and began unwrapping it. The zombies had closed to maybe 4 meters out by the time I had fully unraveled to full blade. It was a monstrous claymore with a demonic skull at the end of the handle and runes of death, destruction, and mayhem carved into the base of the blade. It stood at 5 foot long and had an aura of death that surrounded the blade. On one side of the cross guard were the words 'Demon Prince' in Latin and on the other was a Celtic rune meaning 'Death'.

"Saeko! Fall Back!" I yelled in a tone of voice that I hadn't used since my training days. When she fell back beside me she looked at the blade with fear, awe, and another emotion that I had never seen before. "I'll handle this. Get the others through the fence with the gear. I'll meet you guys on the other side." I lied. She nodded and when she had turned around I closed my eyes and entered a meditative state.

As time slowed around me I ignored the moans of the soon-to-be-dead, I ignored the slamming of car doors and the groans of the injured. I ventured to a door that was covered in chains and locks. It was dented, scratched, and worn but still it held. And for the first time ever I reached up and broke the chains. Behind the door was a creature wreathed in chains and cloaked in shadows. I broke the chains that bound it letting it free.

It didn't move.

"What's up?" I asked, "I'm finally giving you what you want. Full control, no restrictions."  
"I can't." It mumbled, "You've kept me here under your will for so long I can't do anything anymore. You have won."  
"No. You have to help!" I cried, "You are the only way I can protect my friends!"  
"You know me. I'm as likely to help your friends as I am to kill them."  
"Then what can I do? I know I can't protect them myself."  
"Then don't ask for my power. You know I've only been a place holder until you accepted yourself and your past."  
"What? What do you mean?"  
"I'm only a figment of your mind for you to do battle with until you were strong enough to face your fear. Will you face it? Or will you let your friends die?"  
"I...I" I stammered while It looked at me. Gathering my courage and stilling my inner turmoil I looked once more upon the creature "I will. I will face my fears and conquer them.  
"Then tell me. Who are you?"  
Walking forward I gathered my self and stood tall. "I am Connall McLoughin. Son of the Leader of Shadows and his wife the last princess of the Land of Demons. I am the Demon Prince, He Who Hunts In the Dark. And I command you Shade, give me my power!"

As I finished my command the shade that had plagued my dreams and haunted my every battle chuckled. "As you wish my liege. Now go forth, and show the world why we are the most feared beings in existence." With that the Shade melted into the floor and my shadow returned.

"I am complete once more. I hope the others aren't here to see this." I whispered to my self before returning to the land of Reality and back to the blood soaked days there.

Upon waking the closest of Them was closing his teeth around my throat but before he could kill me my blade slashed and his head parted ways with his body. I looked back even as the pack closed in and saw that my friends were safely behind the fence. Giving a sad smile I returned my attention to the monsters that were clamoring towards me.

"This is good-bye my friends. Take care and watch each others backs." I yelled as I slashed through the necks of the first 3 zombies. "Trust no one unless they have proven themselves. And Saeko, What you have is not a curse nor is it a blessing. It is a tool and it will be whatever you make of it."

With those last words I delved deep into my self before unleashing the beast upon those that would harm me and my friends.

* * *

After his farewell Saeko's eyes widened wondering how he knew. Then she relayed most of what he said to the rest of the group. They watched in awe as he raised his head and screamed a challenge to any and all thay could hear. Saeko's knees quaked at the power held in that scream that the others seemed to not hear. Connall dashed forward into the depths of the monsters and began to cut them down like wheat before a scythe.

Kohta who was shaking off the worst of the affects of the crash stood and looked upon the death that Connall was dishing out with a look of awe. He had not known that so much carnage was possible with a simple piece of steel. As Connall continued to cut through the hoard he got farther and farther from them. Saeko, fed up with being stuck on the sidelines, ducked through the fence of wire as a group of adults with water cannons stepped up from the rear.

Saya was the first one to get treatment for her cuts and when her caretaker removed their helmet the resemblance between them showed their relationship as mother daughter. "Lets get them back to the house and get them treated." Saya's mom said.

"What about them?" Kohta asked pointing at Saeko and Connall who were surrounded by Them.

"I'll leave a team here in case they make it through. That's the best that I can do."

As they left carrying the rest of the group to the car along with their meager belongings Kohta couldn't help but hope that his friends would come back.

* * *

As Connall slipped further and further from his friends he hoped that they would forgive him as he saw a zombie from the corner of his eye come from behind and knew that he wouldn't be able to parry such an attack with his sword going the opposite direction. Then just as he finished mentally apologizing for his early death a wooden sword crushed the creatures skull form behind.

He froze in shock for a moment before returning to the fight. He knew only one person who used a wooden sword and if he was right there was no way that he was going to die in front of her. At least not before he read her the riot act for ignoring him and leaping head first into danger.

As they kept up the slaughter they reached the cross roads and were quickly surrounded since the monsters could come from all sides. Realizing their tactical mistake too late Connall cursed under his breath before seeing so stairs that they could use. He quickly relayed his plan to Saeko and they began to carve a path of carnage towards the stairs. When they reached the stairs Connall ordered Saeko to go first since she was more tired of the two and Connall followed her shortly after.

The two broke off their engagement with the monsters quickly and made their way through several streets to make sure they lost Them. "I am so gonna kill you for this shit when we are safe again." Connall threatened between breathes.

"You started it when you said that what I had was a tool not a curse." Saeko replied, "I want to know what you meant and how you knew of it when we find a place to camp."

Connall groaned as they began their way through the city trying to find a path back to the others. When they stumble across an outdoor activities shop they made their way to it to scavenge for anything they could use. After clearing the showroom floors and the ware house at the back they locked all the doors and started to search for anything of use. Connall found a hiking backpack that they could use to fit everything in that was very light and then found cooking supplies and food. He then headed for the clothing section to try and get new clothes to wear since his were covered in blood and other fluids.

Saeko found the keys to a four-wheeler that would allow them to get around easier and quicker, then she headed to the clothes section to try and find something more durable than her school uniform. As she looked through the racks she heard a small scuffling sound, grabbing her wooden sword she approached one of the dressing rooms where the noise, quiet as it was, was loudest. She prepared her self to strike and yanked open the door before bringing her sword down towards its head.

"Whoah!" Connall shouted as he dropped the new underwear that he was about to put on and raised his hands in a surrendering gesture.

Saeko was stunned at the appearance of her teammate and mortified as she ogled his naked body. Her sense of modesty quickly asserted itself as she "eeped" and quickly spun around. Connall quickly closed the door before calling through it "Sorry if I scared you.' Saeko replied "No its my fault, we had already checked for any of Them and I let myself think that one of them might have gotten through the barricades."

"Its better to be prepared than be caught off guard." Connall said as he exited the dressing room. "I'm gonna look around for anything else we might need. If you hear a noise yell and if I reply and the noise ain't me brain it."

"Yes. That's a good plan." Saeko replied as Connall grinned and walked away. As she looked for sturdy clothes to wear her mind kept going back to Connall's naked body. 'How is he so fit? Where did those scars come from? They look almost surgical.' She wondered to herself as she found some clothes before grabbing a dressing room. When she was naked she looked at her body in the mirror wondering when she would be able to take another bath like before at Shizuka's friends house.

After she had gotten dressed she met Connall at the front of the store. "Alright I have, hats, sunglasses, ammunition, guns, crossbow, binoculars, and a selection of clothes that should fit everyone for when it gets colder." All of this was crammed into a foot locker that Connall had strapped to the back of the four-wheeler. "Anything else we might need?"

"Nothing that I can think of." Saeko replied.

After checking everything again they made their way out of the store and up the road with Saeko giving Connall directions the whole way. As it became darker they decided to hole up in an abandoned temple. After parking the four-wheeler a block away and locking the footlocker they walked to the temple with the hiking back pack and locked themselves inside.

After a quick dinner of pre-packaged hiking meals warmed over a hot-hands pack. They sat listening to the wind blow amongst the trees for a few minutes before Saeko plucked up her courage and asked, "Where did you get those scars?"

Connall looked at her for a moment before saying rather evasively, "From a myriad of opponents many of whom would give you a run for your money."

Saeko scowled prettily before asking, "How did you know of my curse.?

It was Connells turn to scowl. "It's not a curse. It's a tool, and for as to how I knew you had it well it takes one to know one."

"What do you mean? How do you control it? I thought it was impossible."

"To answer that question I would have to tell you my story. It's not a pretty one. Could you handle it? Could you handle knowing what humans can do to each other if they wish?"

"To know how to control this 'tool' as you call it, Yes. Yes I could."

Connall scoffed for a moment, "Alrighty then, Settle your self down and don't interrupt. To understand this burden you must understand its beginnings. It began over 2 thousand years ago..."

* * *

Connall spoke until the wee hours of dawn. Telling tales of daring, and tales of woe. His burden began with the Vikings of old, the original berserkers. His mother could trace her heritage back through the greatest of chieftains who were also the most fell of Vikings. Men who made rivers of blood and drank from the skulls of their enemies. His father could trace his lineage back to the original ninjas of Japan, the people of the Shadow. He focused on the Vikings first telling how if they were pushed far enough they fell into a rage that would crush all that stood before them. Be it friend or foe.

That was what made the chieftains so great. They could fall into the rage and yet control who they attacked. They were the reason that in the year 1000 A.D. the Vikings were outlawed world wide. To avoid genocide they split up and joined the standing armies of the day. One day centuries later a man from those tribes joined a fight in the oriental nations. He was the most deadly warrior any one had every seen. And fearing for their lives the government hired the greatest assassin's of their time, the ninja from the Land of Shadows.

A ninja was given the assignment and went to slay the man. But for the first time since their inception, the man failed to be assassinated. They sent ninja after ninja to the man until one day three of the ninjas that they thought were dead came back. They told the tale of the man fighting them but never delivering the final blow. The princess of the land was intrigued as this was a time when cold blooded murder was the norm. She left her home that night without telling anyone of her destination. She found the man several days later in a tavern and wooed him. She led him to her room and laid with him. When he was asleep she lifted her knife and brought it down to his throat but his hand leapt up and halted her in her tracks.

After asking her why she tried to kill him she told him of the contract on his life. He merely smiled at her and released his hold on her. He knew of the contract but he enjoyed fighting. He said that if they continued to send men after him he would continue to fight. The contract merely served to help him get the fights that he wished for. Stunned at his reply she left and went home.

A week later her father found the man and with a platoon of his best men he attacked the man in a rage. It was the hardest fight of the mans life. After defeating all the men but the father he asked why they attacked in a group instead of one at a time like was the norm for assassinations. The father replied that it was no longer about the contract but familial honor. He had killed his daughter so his life was forfeit. Greatly confused the man said that he had let the daughter go almost a fortnight ago. The father looked into the mans eyes and seeing no sign of deceit believed that the man was telling the truth.

The father then began to rage that the emperor would pay. He was the only one who could make his daughter disappear so easily. The emperor had wanted his daughter for years but the father had always declined the offers of marriage. What better way to get both the man he was afraid of dead and the prize of the ninja leaders daughter. Hearing this the warrior was furious to the point that his aura was visible. He had taken a personal vow many years ago to end rape no matter how long it took. The warrior stepped up to the aggrieved father and bowed to one knee before drawing his short sword.

The warrior drew the sword across his arm before grabbing the ninjas right arm in an unbreakable grip and slicing into it with ease. Grabbing leaders arm he began to recite a prayer and at the end of the prayer he looked the aged ninja in the eyes and said "This I swear to you, as long as I draw breath and as long as my blood flows upon this earth your daughter will be brought home. No matter what is in my way, for there are not enough demons in hell, angels in heaven, or humans on earth that will stop me from rescuing your daughter. I, Ailis Cael, so swear this."

Upon completion of his pledge Ailis left with his weapons and armor and marched upon the capital. He sliced through the front gates and then massacred all that stood between him and the emperor. After killing his soldiers the warrior gave a simple ultimatum to the emperor, give me the princess of the ninja or watch as your kingdom falls forever.

The emperor caved and told Ailis where the princess was, and upon finding her he decapitated the emperor in front of his son with the threat that if he tried anything he would meet the same fate along with his entire kingdom. And so the warrior rescued the princess and after returning her the leader invited him to join their clan. Ailis accepted and many years later married the princess that had tried to kill him.

* * *

Those were my great-grandparents. They are the ones that gave me the Rage as we call it. As for my scars, They are another story entirely.

* * *

When I was a boy I was trained on how to kill, with the least amount of effort for assassinations by my father, and how to fight against entire army's from my mother. I was gifted in the art of death gaining my sword at the age of 6, Connell said as he patted his sword. Then it all changed my families compound was attacked and even with my great skill there were simply too many for me to fight against. I was separated and overwhelmed.

I was forced to work for an organization known as Vigilate Mortem which is Latin for Death Watch. They wanted to control the world and the easiest way to do that was to put their own puppets into leadership. Which is where I came in, They threatened my family and forced me to assassinate whoever they wanted whenever they wanted. Whenever I even slightly disobeyed them they tortured me. I've been burned, whipped, beaten, starved, and worse. I was stuck in that life until about 3 weeks ago. I found out that they never had any of my family captive. They lost over three-quarters of their forces just getting me. I was young and easily swayed to try and protect my parents. Once I found out I grabbed my sword and rose up against my captors, they had become lax over the years believing me broken. Stupid fools, my family may bend but we never break.

I was trying to find my family when this plague broke out. It would have taken me at least 3 months just to find my family with the world recording every single move people make, now unless I stumble upon them I will never find them again. And that's not to mention that Vigilate Mortem is still looking for me. They have more resources and assets than you could possibly imagine. If you see this symbol, Connall said as he drew a celtic knot with another celtic knot inverted inside it, they are my clan. But this symbol, he said as he drew a stylized heart that looked much like the symbol on the Full Metal Alchemist cloak, they are Vigilate Mortem. Do not hesitate around them, just run, if they try to stop you kill them for they will show you no mercy.

* * *

As he wound down from his story telling he saw that Saeko was in shock as to the history of his family and his own. When she gathered her wits she looked at Connall with a new fire in her eyes.

"Can you teach me how to harness the Rage?" Saeko asked.

"I can try. I've only really harnessed it once and that was earlier today."

"That's ok. Anything you can teach me I can use. After all its my families motto, 'Take what's useful, discard what's not, add what is uniquely yours'.

"If that's what you want. But for now lets get some rest. We need to find our friends again in the morning."

Saeko smiled knowing that she was able to bring Connall back to the group. She would have missed him too much otherwise. She thought with a blush as she slipped off into the arms of Morpheus.


	4. history and reunion

I'm a college student. Do the math.

"Japanese"

" _English"_

* * *

When Saeko awoke the next morning she jumped to a ready position with her sword balanced in her right hand and eyes searching for any threat. Her abrupt awakening setting old instincts off in Connall as he immediately jumped into the air, drawing his blade on his way up, and front flipped landing lightly on the balls of his feet in the middle of the room ready to strike at the first sign of an attack.

Upon realizing where they were both of them relaxed as the burst of adrenaline slowly left their system. As they wound down Connall's stomach growled which Saeko giggled at before her own stomach made its displeasure at being empty known causing her to stop giggling and blush prettily as Connall smirked. As if some divine justice was served upon Saeko for her earlier laughter.

As they prepared breakfast Saeko wanted to know more about her new group member so she asked more questions beginning with, " _You said that your great-grandparents were the ones that gifted you the Rage as you called it but the last time that warlords were around was hundreds of years ago. How could they just be your great-grandparents? Humans only live around 100 years and for them to be so closely related to you they would have had to live the equivalent of several lifetimes and that would still make you way older than 21."_

 _'Heh,'_ Connall scoffed, " _Should have known you'd pick up on that. This is a story and a half in itself so I'll keep to the basics. Just after the world declared us unfit to live upon the surface of the earth and that we should be killed to the last man, our people scattered and joined the many armies. But one clan said no. They elected to stay behind and not give up their names just because the world wanted them dead. The family decided to give the world a visible target for their hate so that they wouldn't question the slight swelling of their armies as the rest of their clans dispersed and joined. We were the rear vanguard, each one willingly volunteered to die so that the rest of them could live._

 _On their way to one last battle they stopped in a haunted wood that no one dared to come near fearing the monsters that dwelled within. But the Vanguard as they were called braved the forest for refuge during the nights to prevent a surprise attack. As time dragged on some of the men vanished. At first it was just one or two. Then groups would disappear without a trace. As their numbers grew fewer and fewer the men became more and more afraid. For the first time ever something dared to hunt them. One man had had enough. His name roughly translates to Orik The Forsworn. He was one of the best fighters and he was famous for never going back on his word._

 _He ventured alone into the dark to hunt the monster that had slain so many of their kin on the night of the new moon. Around 3 in the morning he heard a scream amongst the wood. He drew his sword and ran for the source and stumbled across a small clearing occupied by a beautiful wood nymph and a werewolf. The werewolf was trying to rape the young nymph and Orik fell into the Rage. But he was not a chieftain. He fell upon the beast and did what was thought to be impossible, he slew the werewolf that had slaughtered his kin without any silver. However, he also attacked the nymph in his Rage._

 _As she lay dying Orik fell upon his knees by her side begging for her forgiveness. She said that there was nothing to forgive since he had saved her purity. Orik pleaded with her, begging for her to know a way for him to save her. She gave a small smile and said that the price was too high to save her, he would hear it and would never be able to pay it for it required an energy that no man would willingly give._

 _Orik frowned before grabbing the nymphs hand an drawing his hunting knife across her wrist before repeating the process with his own. He grasped her hand and swore upon his blood and his name that he would give whatever was needed to save her. The nymph was rather jaded after the werewolf and she scoffed at Orik. "Fine" she said "It will cost your sexual energy. You will never be able to have children ever and any that you already have will be bound to the Oath." "So be it. I have one son and to save an innocent I will sacrifice what I must as he would."_  
 _The nymph was astounded. She thought that no man would ever give up his energy unless it was to save himself. She agreed to the energy and took it from Orik._

 _However, the nymph was not just a normal nymph but the princess of the race. After she was healed she led Orik back to the Vanguard and asked for them to accompany her to her castle as she was too weak to make it alone and she wanted to reward the man that had not only saved her purity but her life as well. When they arrived at her tree castle the Vanguard had to wait while she first rewarded Orik. She took him to a room deep under the castle dungeons where a fountain pouring liquid silver into a void resided. She handed him a cup and said, "I cannot remove a curse once it is placed. I can only change its purpose. If you drink this you could regain your sexual energy or you could suffer a fate worse than death."_

 _Orik looked at the cup and said, "Why not? I might get something worthwhile out of the deal." And he drank the contents in one swig. Moments later there was a great burning in his loins and his heart. Outside his son also felt the burning of his heart and collapsed from the pain. A few days later when he awoke he discovered that his father Orik and the rest of the Vanguard had left to fight the standing armies. All that were present perished taking thousands of men with them as they fell._

 _The sons name was Ailis Cael. He went to the nymph princess saddened that he still lived when the rest of his friends had been slaughtered like animals. The princess comforted him and told him that his father had asked her to look after him. Ensuring that he wouldn't have to watch his son die. She offered him a place among them and he could do as he wished for the rest of his days. As the years passed he aged, but at a far slower rate than most. When he reached 30 years old he stopped aging all together. The curse that his father had was that of infinite life. He could still be killed in battle but he would never fall from sickness or old age. Forced to forever watch his family and friends grow old and die while he endured._

 _And so after a millennia amongst the fair folk he set out to see the world as the world had forgotten about his clan and their genocidal slaughter so many years before. It was several years later that he found Japan and fought the warlords and later still when he married my great-grandmother. But the curse is hereditary. I am immortal and my true age is closer to 400._

 _Orik the Forsworn is where my family gets our inability to break our word. Its a matter of Familial Honor now more than anything else. If one of us cannot do as we swore to the rest of us jump in and we will complete the task we are sworn too no matter what._

 _My family is good at killing._ Connall said " _It's what we have done for millennia and it's what we will continue to do. When we reach 21 we are supposed to take an oath and just because Death Watch took me doesn't mean I am exempt from it. Our oath is that we protect the innocent, kill the oppressors, and die in battle."_

Saeko was stunned silent as she tried to comprehend what was just told to her. " _Are your family still alive? Is Ailis still alive? I'd love to meet him and hear history from his point of view."_

" _Ha Ha Ha,"_ _Connell laughed, "Only you Saeko could hear a life changing, history altering story like that and just keep going like it was another day in the park. But no, Ailis and my grandfather died on the beaches of Normady and my father is lost in this new hell on earth. He'd like you though. Your kind and beautiful, but can kill an enemy with skills that would make most of the younger generation green with envy with your sword."_

Saeko blushed slightly at Connalls complement before becoming melancholic and looking away.

"What's wrong?" Connall asked. But Saeko just shook her head before saying that nothing was wrong and that they needed to get going while there was still plenty of daylight for them to use.

"Wait! Saeko, please tell me whats wrong. I don't know what I said to upset you but I'm sorry and if you tell me what I said I won't bring it up again."  
"It's not what you said. Its how close to home it is." Saeko sighed as she slowly sat back down, "You told me your story, it's only right that you hear mine as well. It won't take long since I'm not a super-human like you."

As Connall sat down Saeko began her story, "When I was a little girl I was always in some form of martial arts, everything from Hand-to-hand to swords and staffs. With my intense workout and activities i grew up earlier than any other girl in my grade and had to deal with hormonal boys as well. One day after practice as I was heading home I cut through a back alley to save so time. I was ambushed. Three men from school leaped from the shadows and threw me against the wall. The leader of the group held me against the wall by my throat as the other boys stayed just behind him and leered at me. I was so scared that I didn't even think to scream and I couldn't hear them. I only saw their mouths moving as they undressed me with their eyes. I couldn't move until I realized that I still had my wooden sword in my hand. All the sudden I wasn't scared anymore.I could hear them as they talked with grins on their faces how they would rape me before selling me to the yakuza where I would be a sex slave for the rest of my life. But I still wasn't scared, I was excited and happy which makes it all the worse. I looked at the leaders face and smiled as I brought my sword up and crushed his throat with the handle." Saeko was openly crying as she hugged herself in an attempt to ward off the feelings of helplessness and despair that the experience brought up. Connall got up and moved closer and hugged her to let her know that everything was ok. "A-As he fell I jumped up on top of his falling body and used it as a spring board before killing his two friends. I just kept hitting and hitting them with my sword until there was nothing recognizable about them anymore." She stuttered.

As Saeko finished her story she couldn't stop crying as the pent up emotions from that day made themselves known. As she cried Connall rubbed her back saying that it was ok. and that she had don nothing wrong. if she hadn't done what she had the yakuza would have broken her spirit before auctioning her off to the highest bidder. After about two hours Saeko collected herself and thanked Connall for understanding.

"Its nothing. But i'm proud that you took on three guys at once and not only beat them but you didn't give up."  
"But I killed them. I could have beaten them without killing them but I was glad to kill them and happily did so. I WAS HAPPY TO KILL ANOTHER HUMAN BEING!"  
"No you weren't. You were happy to kill a monster in the guise of a human. You were in middle school for christ's sake. You not only protected yourself but you protected many other girls from them that would have been forced into a fate worse than death. I'm proud to know you and know that you kept your humanity even after such traumatizing experience."  
"I didn't keep my humanity! I lost it!"  
"No, you didn't. You would have lost your humanity if you didn't feel anything from killing those animals. Then and only then would you be lost to a dark path. The Rage is a double-edged sword. It increases your ability to slaughter and not feel pain to amazing degrees. But it comes at the cost of not being able to differentiate between friend and foe or foe and innocent. That's why we are so dangerous. You have enough of the Rage to access it and I believe you can be a chieftain, but without lots of work with it, you will become nothing more than a rabid dog attacking anyone and anything, fit only to be killed before you kill an innocent."

"I'm not sure I understand all of that. but thank you for saying that I haven't lost my humanity yet." Saeko said quietly.  
"It's simple, you realize that what you did was 'wrong' by most standards and feel bad about it. But another part of you was wanting to get into a fight, i'd wager it started sometime around your third year of being taught, and wanted to test the skills that you had gained in a real life scenario. The two sides of your conscience are at war with one another and you are stuck in the middle. Everyone you know listens to the rules that the world imposes on them stifling the other half of their conscience, you are one of the rare few that listen to both. However the world is providing reinforcement to one side and to even it out you are overthinking every decision in hopes of finding a peaceful medium between the two extremes. If you want my advice, meditate in the morning alone and away from everyone, rooftops are my personal favorite, you will be fresh from sleep and that is when the mind is most uncluttered from other people and the rules of society. But for now we need to move, its getting late and we need to find the others. Are you good to travel? I'd prefer to stay an extra night than go out without you at your best."

"I'm good. We are both packed and its not too far to Saya's house and we can easily make it there before dark."

After their heart-to-heart the two travelers felt more at ease around each other than they had ever felt around anyone ever before, even around their own family. They packed up their bags and began to head down to where they had left the bike dodging most of Them and killing the ones that were in the way. They started up the four-wheeler and headed down the road maneuvering around the burned out husks of cars and as many of Them as possible trying not to waste time as they headed to meet up with their friends. When they finally found where they had wrecked the Hummer they discovered that it was already gone.

"Where did it go? Hummers don't just get up and go away." Cannall griped as he reassured himself that they were in the right place.  
"No they don't but remember that all that was wrong with it was a flooded engine. They could have come back after the hoard dispersed and restarted it. If you look closely at these wires they are designed to be removable. They probably restarted the engine, took down the wires and drove it up to Saya's house."  
"That's all that was wrong with it? Geez and here I was worried that we'd have to fix some hard to find part that only one place carries and was guarded by a couple hoards of zombies."  
"This isn't a video game Connall, that stuff never happens in real life."  
"Yes it does. There's a whole list of laws that describe exactly how bad your day is going to be. They are called Murphy's Laws of Combat Operations."

Saeko deadpanned as Connall smirked at his little joke. Connall quit his goofing off and followed Saeko as she climbed through the wires. They walked several miles before coming up on an outpost manned by other survivors.

"Saeko, stay here while i go up and see if they know where Takashi and the others are. If they capture me run and I'll meet you at the temple we took shelter in last night no later than 3 days from now. Understood?"  
"Don't bother, Kohta is with them." Saeko replied as she pointed out the glasses wearing gun fanatic.

"Ok but if anything starts to go down start running and I'll meet you at the temple. I'm better at close quarters than you are and I'm used to fighting without a sword."  
"You worry too much." She chuckled "But if it means that much to you fine. I'll meet you at the temple."

Their GO TO HELL plan in place they approached the outpost in plain sight to avoid any accidents and were greeted by a very happy Kohta who had been worried for them ever since he had woken up. As they made their way back to the house Kohta informed them that Takashi had a mild concussion and Rei had a dislocated shoulder while Saya and Alice had several cuts and abrasions on their extremities. Shizuka had made it out of the crash in the best condition since she was wearing her seatbelt when it had happened and was caring for the others as they recovered.

When they arrived they saw Saya and a woman, who had to be her mother if looks were any indication, in an argument which ended as Saya stormed off. Saeko introduced herself and Connall to her and said that they were part of the group that Saya was with before they had been separated at the wire fence. As they continued their introductions they heard a loud commotion going on outside and left to go see what was the matter.

Saeko and Connall arrived at a large fountain that a man was using as a platform to speak from and a forklift was off to the side with a captured zombie confined within it. Saeko translated for Connall as the man spoke of what the monster used to be and how he was a good friend who had sacrificed himself for others only to be bitten and changed into one of Them. As the man finished his speech he drew his sword as the cage door opened and swung his blade down to decapitate the zombie and send it back to death.

"CLANG!"

Instead of his sword striking the open neck of his target it was intercepted by a short curved blade wielded by Connall with the other blade shoved down the zombies throat preventing it from being able to bite him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" The man yelled at Connall who ignored him in preference for throwing him back in the cage he had just left before shutting the door.

The man continued to fume as Connall ignored him. Connall yelled down to Saeko asking her to translate what ever the man had just said. Saeko told Connall what he had said and, using Saeko as a proxy, asked how much of an idiot the man was. Here was a perfect opportunity to study one of the creatures if they could secure it and find out its weaknesses and strengths.

Connall left the man standing on the makeshift stage as he approached the driver of the forklift and gentle removed the man from his seat before driving the forklift through the open front gates and down several houses with an angry father and armed guards chasing him.

When he stopped he was several blocks away. Connall lowered the cage and grabbed some rope that he had brought with him. He opened the cage after creating a noose with the rope and when the zombie charged out of the crate he lassoed the things neck and quickly tied the other end of the rope to the forklift before backing out of range. Waiting several minutes Connall then began to test the limits of the monsters hearing and visual ranges. After about 3 hours of research he discovered that while the monsters had no visual capabilities what so ever, their hearing more than made up for that. They could hear quieter noises than ordinary humans as well as having a broader frequency of hearing.

This meant that they had to learn how to be quiet at all times and they had to only move during the day when they had the advantage. As he finished his tests the group from the house found him and surrounded him with weapons drawn. He simply ignored them as he drew his khukri and severed the zombies head before paying attention to the group that currently surrounded him.

The leader began to yell at him as Saeko finally caught up to them fussing about how Connall should never do something so foolish again even if it was for a good cause. Connall told her what he had found out and she relayed it to the man. The man began to yell at Connall for what he had done as Saeko translated for him. When the man had finished Connall simply asked which was better, to kill on and save none or to kill one and save many with the intel that was gathered.

The man had no reply and simply watched as Connall and Saeko walked back to the house to meet their friends and talk about the next step for their little group.


	5. Family troubles and hope

Don't own

* * *

Several days passed after Saeko and Connall were reunited with the rest of their group. Saya's father was still angry over Connall's "irresponsible and dangerous" behavior and forbid him from going anywhere alone. Which Connall allowed for now since he didn't care if someone followed him around. After the third day he gathered their little group quietly and they had a private meeting where he told them about himself and his history as he had told Saeko.

The others reactions varied from amazed to skeptical which was understandable as he was describing events that, if known and accepted, would change the history books forever. He left the meeting after his story to allow them to decide whether or not to let him stay with the group or if he should be on his way. After an hour or so Saeko finally tracked him down, fussing at him since he hadn't stuck near the door, and told him that they didn't care what his story was. He had helped them stay alive and rescued Rei when it would have been easier for him to continue on his own. He knew how to defend himself from these monsters and he had no problem disposing of them in groups.

As he let himself be lead back to the group he marveled at the strange feeling in his chest that refused to leave. It had started when he heard that the others not only would let him stay with them but that they wanted him to stay; and it only got worse when Saeko had grabbed his hand. Resolving to figure it out later he set it aside and entered Rei's room where they were having the meeting and sat back down. Saya quickly brought up a point in leaving her father's compound as they hadn't yet found Rei's or Takagi's parents and that if they stayed they would be stripped of most of their autonomy because they were just teenagers and be forced to follow someone else whether they wanted to or not.

At this Connall's eyes hardened because he had fought hard for his freedom and if anyone tried to take it away from him again he would kill them consequences be damned. Saeko put her hand on his to calm him down and translated to the others that Connall wouldn't follow anyone's orders if he didn't want to. With this they began to agree that they preferred to keep their group as it was and began to plan on where to go but their meeting was interrupted by a large bus entering the compound. They quickly grabbed their weapons and went down to meet the new arrivals.

* * *

Connall's Viewpoint

* * *

As everyone moved downstairs I saw that they seemed slightly more tense than they had been in the room. I put it off as jitters to meeting new people in this new hell of a world. When we reached the main doors it quickly became apparent that Rei, at least, had a history with the man and his group that had just driven in on the bus. Immediately upon seeing a man, who had slicked back black hair and glasses that failed to hide his snakelike eyes, she reacted twirling her rifle like a spear before bringing the bayonet to a stop just under his chin next to his adam's apple.

While I couldn't understand the quick fire Japanese I did understand people to a certain extent and weapons extremely well. I stepped forward and put my hand on the barrel of Rei's rifle before telling her as Saeko translated that if she stabbed him with her current setup she would get blood in every nook and cranny of her weapon leading to it probably breaking when she needed it most.

"Use this." I said as I handed her one of the kukhri's off my back. As I handed her one of my weapons the man came up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. I reacted and moving as fast as I could quickly ripped his arm from my shoulder and pinned it behind him in an arm lock before asking Saeko what he had just said. She translated that the man had been talking about how he had nothing to do with Rei being held back, which was a blatant lie, as well as we all had to work together to survive this apocalypse and that he could help us if we let him.

Upon hearing this I released the man's arm and as he relaxed and shook out the cramp I had no doubt put into it I turned slightly before twisting right back around and bitch-slapped the man so hard several of his teeth came flying out of his head. Then I reached down and grabbed him by his throat and asked Saeko to translate what I said so that the man would know exactly what I was saying.

"Listen here you little shit. It's fuckers like you that try to run the world from behind closed doors that always say that people should get along no matter what, and that your way is better than ours, and you ostracize people like me who don't buy your political bullshit saying we are a minority and behind the times. And yet whenever something happens that upsets your carefully crafted equilibrium you immediately come to us begging for us to fix it. You are a liar and a cheat just like everyone else of your ilk. I've known you all of 30 seconds and all I want to do is kill you and your little cult behind you just to rid this place of another parasite of society. So let me make one thing perfectly clear. If you ever come within 5 klicks of me and my friends ever again I'll put a bullet through your skull." I ranted before bodily throwing him to the bus. He only made it to the top of the stairs before gravity reminded him that what goes up must come down.

Saya's father had the man rounded up and thrown out quickly and after Saeko and the rest talked to Saya's father it was relayed to me later that he was going to do the same thing but I had gotten to it first.

* * *

After throwing out Koichi Shido the group calmed down and went back to Rei's room to plan on how to find Takashi's and Rei's parents as the other parents were out of the country or in the estate. Rei brought up the idea of trying to call them again to see if they could get communications with their parents to make it easier to find them. Takashi and Rei each brought out their cell phones and called the last number that they had for their family.

Takashi calls his mothers cell phone hoping for her to pick up and is elated when someone answers.  
"Hello? MOM?!" Takashi nearly yells after the call connects.  
"Who is this? How did you get through?" A gruff voice answers.  
"I'm Takashi and who are you? And more importantly how do you have my mom's phone?" Takashi demands.  
"Oh, your little Takashi that Masako is always going on about? I'm Toshiharu. I worked with your mom. She and I made it to an evacuation center but it got overrun. Last I saw her, she was on the roof of one of the buildings that got surrounded by zombies. I'm sorry but that was the last that I saw of her." Toshimaru apologized.  
"Where was this?"  
"NO! I can't let you go there. There are too many of those monsters around there for you to make it. And even if you did make it You'd have to see your own mother as one of those things!"  
"You don't know my mother and you certainly don't know me. I'm getting to my mother no matter what. Now are you going to help me and tell me which evac center you were at or am I going to have to go to each one and clear them all?" Takashi demanded with a steely tone.  
"Ahhh fine. On your own head be it. We made it to the Hideaki Memorial Hospital on the other side of town. But that place is crawling with those things, You'll never make it." Tashimaru tried to warn one last time.  
"Thanks for the warning but I'm not stopping unless I see for myself what happened." Takashi replied.  
"Fine, I'll be praying for your safe travels. If you make it come to the American base on Okinawa. It's still holding strong and there's plenty of room and food."  
"Thanks for the info. Bye"

Takashi hung up the phone and told the group what was going on as Rei finished her call. Once she was done she said that her parents were holed up at a mall near the heart of the city. They were surrounded by hundreds of those monsters but they had plenty of food and several weapons that they fashioned from the local shops. Takashi asked Saya if she had a large map of the city which her family did have. As a group they left Rei's room and went to the small third floor where Saya's father had built a command center to plan their survival.

After having Saya deal with an overzealous doorman they gathered around the map table to plot out how to get both Takashi's mother and Rei's parents while avoiding as many of the popular spots as possible since these were the likely spots of hoards. The situation that the map presented was not a pretty one, the mall was only 34 kilometers away but it was right in the middle of one of the most popular areas of the city where both tourists and many government offices resided and the hospital was no better residing next to a main junction for traffic and having Toshimaru's report that it had been over run.

Even without the problems of getting to the mall and hospital they were on an entirely different island than the American base and while Connall had many skills, landing a plane was not one of them. Oh he could get it up in the air and where he wanted easily enough but he usually had to bail out over his target and let the plane crash than stay in it through landing. As they were trying to figure out the most successful plan of action Shizuka remembers that as a member of the Self Defense Force, Rika had received training in several different types of aircraft.

After hearing this Rei hands her her cell phone asking if Shizuka knew her number and to call her. Shizuka finally remembers Rika's number after several moments of trying to figure out the keys of the phone and places the call.

"Hello?" A female voice answers.  
"Rika? It's me Shizuka! Are you o.k.?" Shizuka yells excitedly into the phone.  
"Shizuka?! I'm fine, I've been assigned to watch the airport so that we can keep planes flying to and from the safe zones. But there's only so much fuel, you need to get to the Kaminaga International Airport. I'll tell the guards to let you through."  
"But what about my friends?"  
"What friends? Are you part of a group? How big of a group is it? Are you safe? SO HELP ME IF ONE OF THEM LAID A FINGER ON YOU THEY ARE DEAD!"  
"No no no no. It's a group of students from my school. We are trying to find their parents and so far only three are unaccounted for. We were going to rescue the last three and then get you to fly us to the American base on Okinawa."  
"You are being protected by a bunch of students?" Rika screamed.  
"Yes but Takashi-san and Connall-kun are very skilled and they've kept our group really safe."  
"Fine but I want to talk to this 'Connall-kun' of yours."  
"You can't unless you know English. He's an American that joined our group 2 days ago and he doesn't know Japanese."  
"Don't worry I know English now put him on." Rika demanded in an over protective father type of voice.

"She wants to talk to Connall." Shizuka said as she handed the phone to him.

"Hello, This is Connall."  
"Hi, My name is Rika. I'm a friend of Shizuka's. I wanted to know how you expect to get my friend through the city while rescuing not one but two students parents and make it to this airport before the fuel runs out?" Rika all but demanded.  
"Lots of ammunition, gas, and an extremely poor attitude. Or to make it sound better I plan to have them wait out by the car while I waltz up to the front door slaughtering any zombie stupid enough to get near me and walk right back out the same way. We have weapons and ammo aplenty and I have a lifetime of experience."  
"I don't care how much experience you have. I want Shizuka here and I want her here now."  
"Huh, didn't take you for the jealous type. Don't worry about it, I already have several plans on how to get in and out with the families..." Connall was interrupted mid-speech by a loud electronic screech before it faded to silence.

"Huh?"  
"What happened?"  
"Why are the lights dead?" several of the group questioned at once.

As the rest of the group was asking questions and wondering what was going on Saya looked out one of the upper windows and saw a large bright light starting to dim.  
"Rei! check your scope!" She quickly ordered over the noise of everyones questions.  
"What? why?"  
"Just check."  
As Rei checked her scope she quickly realized that the red dot that was normally in the center was gone.

"Huh? what happened to my sight?" Rei questioned as the group began to hear questions being thrown about in the yard. The group went over to a window overlooking the courtyard and saw the gate was open and several vehicles that had apparently just come through had all stopped where they were and nothing electronic was moving.

"It was a H.A.N.E." Saya said.  
"A what?" the rest of the group responded.  
"It was a High Altitude Nuclear Explosion. When a nuclear warhead goes off it excites the molecules in the air creating a wave that is invisible to the naked eye that fries any thing and everything with a motherboard. Old vacuum tube computers and such will still work but everything else from cars to computers will be fried if they weren't shielded properly."

"Looks like we're walking everywhere now. Unless we can scrounge up some working pieces and piece together a car or bus." Connall said while Saeko translated.

The group quickly left the command center with a map of everywhere they would need to go and headed back to Rei's room to plan what to do next.

"What do we do now?" Kohta said dejectedly "We'll never make it fast enough to rescue everyone if we don't split-up or have a car."  
"I'll go pickup shizuka's friend..." Connall started to say.  
"Rika. Her name is Rika."Shizuka interrupted.  
"O.k. I'll go pickup Rika and bring her to the hospital evac point where your mom was last seen Takashi. Then we'll go and pick up Rei's parents since they are in the heart of the city they will probably be the hardest to get to and they are holed up in a pretty safe spot apparently so they are the safest for now. Unless someone has a better plan."

"No!" Saya exclaimed, "If we split up we are easier to capture and get killed. We need to stay together!"  
"We aren't sure how long our families can hold out." Takashi countered, "How can we get to them quickly enough if we don't split up?"  
"So your all just going to leave? Just like everyone else? Just leave me when I am no longer useful?!" Saya nearly screamed as her eyes began to tear up, "Fine! Go then. See if I care?!"

Kohta stepped forward bringing his arm back before slapping her across the face instantly silencing the group while Saya tried to process what had just happened.  
"No we aren't leaving you." Kohta said with a stern voice, "I don't know about them but I will never leave you." he added quietly.  
"How can I know that? Everyone else has left me. Even my own parents didn't look for me before I showed up. And i'm their daughter. The apple of their eye!" Says sobbed.

Kohta looked at her crying figure before stepping forward and wrapping her in a hug. "They had too much to do and no time to do it in. They had to believe that their daughter was strong and tough enough to be able to get home on her own while they looked out for those that couldn't look out for themselves." He whispered into her ear before he let her go. "I'm going to take a walk around and see if there's anything that happened to survive. Who knows we might get lucky and find a working phone or something."

As Kohta left Saya quickly regained control of her emotions and left the room as well presumably to regain control of herself and think of a plan to help them.  
"O.k. lets stop for a while and pick this up tomorrow. We need to decide as a group and we can't decide things effectively if we let our emotions run away with us." Saeko said before walking out as well.

* * *

Several hours later as the sun began to set Shizuka heard what sounded like a little child crying of in the small wooded area within the walls. As a nurse she couldn't ignore a plea for help even if it was a plea without words. As she wandered closer to the sound she saw Alice sitting on a small bench in a clearing in the center of the grove. As she approached she heard Alice sob out "Why daddy? Why did you and mommy have to go?" Upon hearing this Shizuka's heart broke and she went to the bench and pulled the little girl into a hug.

Alice started and immediately tried to stop crying and put on a strong face for her friend.  
"it's ok Alice. Let it all out." Shizuka said, not once letting Alice go.  
Alice, no longer able to hold in her emotions, grabbed onto Shizuka tightly and began crying once more. "Why did he have to die?" asked Alice, "All he was trying to do was keep me safe."  
"And he did keep you safe. A parent will always sacrifice themselves for their child. No matter how bleak the situation they will die to try and give their child even half of a chance that they might live on. That's what made him such a great father. He died knowing that he had done everything he could to keep you alive even sacrificing himself. It won't make the loss any easier to bear, but it should give you a reason to keep surviving. To ensure that his sacrifice won't be wasted. Do you understand what i'm trying to say? Shizuka asked.

"I think so. But I still miss him."  
"It's ok to miss him but don't think for a moment that he isn't watching out for you. I would bet you anything that both he and your mother are watching out for you and making sure that you won't join them for a long time. It's selfish of them but they would want to make sure that you have a long and happy life. Even if the world looks like it is coming to an end right now, It can only get better from here. Besides we are your family now, and we'll protect you from anything this place can throw at us." Shizuka said with a smile.

"Really? You'll be my new family?" Alice asked with a slight sniffle.  
"Of course sweetheart. And we won't ever leave you." Shizuka said as she tightened the hug she had Alice in.  
Neither one of them noticed a shadow slink away under the trees back towards the rest of the camp. Nor did anyone notice the slight smile on Connall's face that refused to leave for the rest of the day.

* * *

As Connall kept making his rounds trying to find any piece of equipment that might be worth taking when they left he heard a commotion going on with several older voices and one younger. Recognizing the young voice as that of Kohta, Connall picked up his pace and ran to the corner where the voices were loudest to see several men surrounding one of his friends. Before he could make a move Saya appeared from nowhere and looked like she was berating the men for trying to steal her friend's guns. As Connall made to leave he saw Saya's father appear and start asking questions. Kohta as scared as he was could barely form a coherent sentence during the brief questioning that the man put him under and he was not thrilled at Kohta's answers.

The man reached down and grabbed the shotgun that was in Kohta's arms and began to try and take it from him by force. Having seen enough Connall strode over and with the subtlety that he was known for drew his short swords and put them to the mans neck asking "What the hell do you think your doing with my friends weapons?"

Luckily the man knew English and replied, "I'm taking them to put them in the hands of someone who actually knows what they are doing. This boy can't even answer my simple questions without stuttering like a frightened schoolgirl and therefore he doesn't have any right to hold such weapons. If he can't even answer a couple questions how can I expect him to be able to use them if we are attacked?"  
"That's easy. He's the only one who can name each and every part and its function. He's saved your daughters life multiple times and has served the team quite well with his skills and knowledge. Now you are going to let go of the gun or your going to lose your hand. Your choice."

Seeing the steel in Connall's eyes Saya's father decided that he didn't want to test the man further and let go of the weapon which Kohta immediately snatched from his hands before looking over it like a mother would her child. When he had let go of the shotgun Connall sheathed his swords with his normal flourish which caused the man to stare at him in shock.  
"Where the hell did you learn that?" He demanded.  
"Learn what?" Connall asked with a very confused expression on his face. He had expected to be threatened if he ever did something like that again. Not have the man freak out over his sheathing of his swords.  
"Where did you learn to sheathe your swords like that? I've only ever seen one man sheathe them like that and he said that it was his family style that was never taught to outsiders."

Connall was extremely excited about this. He had only slaughtered his way to freedom a couple weeks ago after centuries of imprisonment. Whoever this man was talking about had to be a relative if this man had seen the swordstyle and he had to be a good man otherwise he would already be dead. "Where have you seen this style before? Better question, When? Best question, Who did you see do it?" Connall asked excitedly. He might actually meet his family again much sooner than he had thought.  
"No, who taught it to you is my question. He said that his style was extremely private and was never taught to outsiders. But you don't look like him vary much. And if you don't give me a satisfactory answer I will be forced to kill you as I swore to protect that mans secrets to my dying breathe." He replied with a fire in his eyes.

"Then let us take this conversation inside. There are too many ears out here for what we need to discuss." Connall said, barely able to keep from jumping for joy at the thought of a possible lead to his family. After they had gone inside and into the Don's office where he was assured that no one would eavesdrop they began their conversation.

"The style that you saw me use was my family's style. I am Connal Mcloughlin, son of the King of Shadows and His wife the last princess of the land of the Demons. I am he who hunts in the shadows and am the prodigal son seeking to return to his rightful place amoung his family. I beg of you, if you have any clue as to where my family is or will be, please give it to me. I don't know how I can prove it to you but name a way and as long as it is not against a previous promise of mine you have my word that I will do whatever it takes to prove I am who I say I am." Connall begged the man.

"I know there is an organization after your family. They know much but if you are who you say you are, then this should be easy. To prove your lineage I wish to hear your story, nothing left out, nothing sugar-coated. I want to know what could possibly keep you from returning to your family before now. I saw what that man could do when he saved my life all those years ago and if you can do even half of what he could I don't see how anything could keep you from home this long.

Connall nodded to the Don and launched into his story. He told of how he was taken and tortured and beaten. He told of his crimes and murders to try and protect his family and how they paid when he found out the truth. He drew his shortswords once more and took apart the hilt and showed the tang to the Don. "These runes are meant for safety and to always keep us in control. These have never been shown to an outsider who hadn't earned our trust. Your ring, it holds the symbol for friend but it also holds the symbol for debtor. you are keeping something from me. More than just you saw a man long ago show you our style." Connall said as he pointed to the signet ring that sat upon the desk.

The Don smirked as he began to speak, "You have proven your self to me. Only your family knows those symbols and you speak as a man who has been through what he describes instead of just having heard and memorized it. you are right, Your family gave me this ring after I accidently saved a child of your clans. He was in a carriage that was just outside a bank as her parents stopped to talk to a friend from their work. A man came running out of the bank and grabbed the child before anyone could react. he then put a gun to the childs head and began to use him as a hostage. His parents weren't going to risk their childs life but luckily I was behind him trying to go into the bank he had just run out of. I snuck behind him and the father saw me and saw what I was planning to do. I reached out and slammed my hand in-between the hammer and the firing pin before wrenching the gun up and away from the child. The father and mother moved and the mother grabbed her child as her husband and I beat the man unconscious. Needless to say they were extremely happy and invited me over for dinner. Over the years we became closer and closer before they trusted me enough to tell me of their families secret. I was given this ring at the same time so that if I or my family ever needed help I could show this to a member of the family and they would help however they could. I've kept in touch with them and just after this broke out I was contacted and given the location of the nearest family member if I should need help. She currently works at Kaminaga International Airport."

"Wow. It is a small world. I am headed there anyway to get someone named Rika who is a friend of the nurse that is with us." Connall laughed.  
"Actually that's the name of the contact that I was given. I also have a phone number but I doubt its any good now."  
"Actually it probably is still good. Before I was captured our family always had a backup plan with the same contact information just in case the primary system failed. I'd bet you a dollar that her private phone is shielded against almost anything short of an armor piercing 50 caliber round."  
Hearing this the Don quickly found the paper that had Rika's number on it and copied it down before handing it to Connall.

"Why don't you come with us?" The Don asked, "We could use the extra help and you'd be with your family again quickly."  
"I would if I could but I said I'd protect these rugrats until they were reunited with their families. Heck I might just bring them with me when I come back to the airport. They have all become important to me and I feel as if my Chosen One is amoung them." Connall replied, "But I guarantee you that I will be there later and we can sit and have a party when I reunite with my family."  
"That would be a hell of a party. I barely remember the last and only party I was at that involved your family." The Don reminisced with a smile.

All the sudden they were interrupted by a lot of shouting from outside and a young man barged through the door. "Sir! a horde of Them are coming our way. And with the power out we cant secure the front gates." As the man finished he was bypassed by Takashi and the rest of the group already suited up and ready to leave.  
"Guys, I got good news. I know where a family member of mine is at. And the best part is she's already at the Kaminaga International Airport. Rika's the name and killing is the game." As Saeko translated most of the group seemed rather blasé about this information except Shizuka who looked rather surprised that her friend was related to Connall.

After Connall finished his announcement Takashi said that the Hummer was perfectly fine as it was triple-shielded against EMP. Which came as no surprise to Connall since it was Rika's and his family was known for overdoing things.

"Alright, Takashi you and the gang will load up the Hummer and we are getting out of here. Don get all your people out if you stay quiet the zombies wont hear you and you can walk right past them. Meet Rika at the Airport. I should be there in a week or so depending on how long it takes me to get the other families and the number of zombies in the area. Don't worry I'll plug the front door for a while as you evacuate out the back. When Takashi and them are done loading the vehicle we'll distract and kill as many of them as possible."

Nobody argued with him as it was a solid plan and they all immediately began running around grabbing anything that they would need for the trip. As this happened Connall grabbed his khukri's and walked out the front gate with a smile on his lips due to all the information he now had on his family. After about 30 minutes the Hummer was loaded and the last of the refuges were getting out the back gate. Shizuka started the engine and drove the Hummer back out the front gates. None of them were prepared for the sight that met them as they tried to leave.

Bodies. Bodies piled twice as high as the Hummer and covered the breadth of the road with a small lane for the Hummer to drive through. All the bodies were missing limbs and their heads. As they drove past the first block the bodies began to diminish and an evil sounding cackle carried across the still night air. As they drove closer to the source they began to make out individual words and sentences. "You bastards think you can kill me! I've been killing since I was born and none of you can stop me! I just regained my freedom and you seek to stop me! NEVER! I will see my family again! AND. YOU. CAN'T. STOP ME!" Saeko climbed out the top hatch as they drove through an intersection and saw Connall covered in blood and massacring Them screaming all the while about how he'd see his family again. He only stopped when Saeko jumped off the Hummer and walked behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's time to leave." She said which seemed to bring Connall back to reality.

As he hopped back onto the roof of the hummer he poked his head through the open hatch and apologized with a rather sheepish grin on his face "I'm just really excited to see my family so much sooner than I thought." No one said anything knowing how important family was to him and how long he had been without them. They just nodded and said it was ok.

And so they drove off into the night not knowing the troubles and horrors that awaited them.


	6. A rescue and a promise

I own the idea. thats it.

* * *

The group left the destroyed safe haven and drove for the rest of the day trying to get closer to the mall before they stopped for the night. "Shizuka," Connall said, "Stop here. You are drifting all over the lane and that's way too unsafe with the current state of things. Takashi watch out for Them while I open this gate."

Takashi climbed on top of the hummer as Connall walked over to a gate nearby that blocked the driveway of a two-story house. "Of course it would be an electric gate." Connall muttered as he examined how to get in without destroying the gate. Connall reached into his duffel bag and brought out a pair of channel locks and began loosening the bolts that held the lock in place.

When he finished unbolting the lock he waved back to the hummer signaling Shizuka to drive through. After the hummer was through Connall pushed the gate back into place and locked it back to the post using the chain from the electric gate and a small padlock from the bottom of his bag.

"Alright, Connall clear the bottom floor while Rei and I clear the top. Kohta, you and Saeko clear the yard. If you run into a group of them fall back and get the rest of us." Takashi ordered. After everyone said they understood they separated and cleared the house.

After setting up a watch schedule so they wouldn't be caught off guard if anything happened unexpectedly. The next morning, they all awoke to the smell of a freshly cooked breakfast and after showering and getting dressed they all congregated down stairs in the dining room and waited for Connall to come out of the kitchen since he was the only one missing.

By the time Connall finally came out of the kitchen with his arms laden with food Saeko and Shizuka were practically drooling since it smelled so good while Kohta and Takashi had gone through several napkins trying not to drool on the table since it smelled so good. Seeing their reactions just from the smell of his cooking Connall laughed quietly and said in bad Japanese "Well if that's how your gonna act about my cooking maybe I should stop."

"NO!" was the universal cry from the table as he set down the dishes. "Wait, I thought you didn't speak Japanese." Saya continued. "I didn't. Until your dad gave me an English-Japanese Dictionary a while ago. I've been reading it and studying your language since I got it. I'm not great at it yet but now I won't have to trouble Saeko to translate for me all the time. Part of me is glad to be rid of that tactical nightmare but now I'll have to come up with another reason to talk to her all the time."

There were several reactions to this statement ranging from snickers from Rei and Takashi, a blush from Saeko, ambivalence from Kohta and Saya, and an unknown from Shizuka.

"What is wrong with me?" Shizuka thought to herself. "Ever since I heard Connall's story I've felt different. And now with him all but saying he likes Saeko I'm getting really aggravated. I need to think about this later." She resolved to herself before bringing her attention back to the conversation at hand.

After breakfast the group raided the house for anything that could be of use from better winter clothes, since it was fall already, to more non-perishable food to take with them. After clearing the house of anything that they found useable they left and began their trip to find Rei's parents at the mall since they were in the highest zombie populated area and it would be easier to get in and out with a small group rather than a large one with possibly injured members.

As they drove towards the mall they passed what looked to be a small military facility with a small 4 story building and a fenced in yard that held several artillery pieces and other unknown pieces of equipment that could be attached to the trailer hitch. "Hey! Pull over." Connall said, "Let's check this place out. They probably have weapons and MRE's that we could use. And If I can hotwire one of the Deuce and a half's in the back we should be able to rescue the rest of the people at the mall when we get there."

"Wouldn't the EMP have fried the computers in the engines though?" Saya replied.  
"Only if its unshielded. Most military vehicles are shielded to prevent an enemy from using an EMP to gain an advantage." Connall said.

As Shizuka pulled over the rest of the group readied their weapons and prepared to clear another building of possibly large numbers of Them. Kohta and Connall were excited about possibly getting military grade hardware while the rest were just happy to be out of the hummer for a while. As the old saying goes, Closeness breads contempt, and they were more than ready to get away from each other for a while.

After they cleared the building and yard of any of Them, the group split up to find anything useable in their areas of expertise. Shizuka went to the infirmary to gather any useable medical equipment while Kohta and Takashi raided the armory. Saeko, Rei, and Saya found the communications room and started raiding it to find anything that might still be usable while Connall went to the back with a bucket of keys to find which one started the trucks.

As they all searched Saeko found a couple of old field radios and decided to bring one out to Connall to see if he could figure out how it worked. It looked too big to be modern enough to be affected by the EMP but she didn't have enough knowledge in the field to know if that was true or not.

As she opened the door to the back she immediately knew something was wrong. The bucket of keys that Connall had taken was laying in the grass next to 3 bodies that used to be Them if the multiple bite marks on each body were any indication. Saeko gently and quietly set the old radio on the ground before drawing her wooden sword. She hadn't heard Connall yet and nobody had yelled or anything meaning whatever had happened had been too quiet to hear inside.

As she crept slowly along the border fence keeping as quiet as she could she heard a noise coming from the last row. Saeko cleared each row to make sure that nothing would be able to creep up behind her before stopping around the corner of what could be either a generator or a communications hub. She gathered her breath before inching around the corner only to let her breath out explosively upon realizing that the one making the noise was Connall.

"Damn Conn…" was all that Saeko got out before a khukri machete buried itself in the metal frame next to her head. Her eyes widened to epic proportions as she realized how close she came to getting herself killed.

"Shit! I'm sorry Saeko. I'm so sorry. You startled me and I just reacted!" Connall said as he came close to panicking over nearly killing his friend. As Connall pulled the machete from the steel door he kept himself between whatever he was looking at and Saeko.

Saeko, quick to shake off what happened, asked "What were you so deep in thought about? No one's ever been able to get the drop on you and I thought you were injured with the bucket of keys next to the dead zombies over by the door. I heard you over here and when I went to ask if you were o.k. you bury your khukri next to my head."

"Nothing Saeko. It was nothing. Just having a bad flashback is all." Connall said.

"Nothing?" Saeko replied. Connall could hear the skepticism dripping off of her tone.  
"You piled up over 100 of Them when we were leaving Saya's home and you expect me to believe that just three of them gave you a flashback. Your lying and we both know it. You can tell me anything, including that you don't want to tell me right now. I trust you enough to back off if you want me to, but please don't lie to me. O.K?" she continued.

"Heh." Connall scoffed, "I both love and hate your perception. But please don't ask about what happened. It's for your safety. Ok. I'll explain it later when we get to my family's place."

"Thank you. Come on, we still have to find the right keys and test the truck." Saeko said in a lighter tone.

As she left Connall closed the door that was open on the generator closing off the note and distorted medical cross inside.

They quickly found which keys went with which truck and they lucked out with the third truck which started up and showed that it had a full tank of gas. When Connall checked the back he found an even better surprise. There laying in several boxes were a variety of machine guns, assault shotguns, plastic explosives, and the coup de grace an entire supply of artillery ammunition for the 155 howitzers.

As they headed back inside to tell the others Connall saw the radio that Saeko had discarded earlier when she went to find him. "This is perfect Saeko. This model was the last fielded model before motherboards replaced everything." Connall commented as he looked over the radio for any obvious damages.

After looking over the radio and seeing that there was nothing that looked broken Connall asked if there were any others and if so where were they. Saeko led him to the communications room where she had found the first radio and found that there were several now sitting in the middle of the room that Rei and Saya had uncovered in the back of the closet.

"These are perfect girls. This model doesn't have a motherboard and were some of the most robust ever." Connall complimented the girls on their find, "Let's find out what the others have found and then get a move on and rescue Rei's parents.

As they left the room with the radios on their backs they ran into Shizuka who had just come back from the infirmary. Before she could start telling them what she had found Connall said that they should all just meet in the main room on the bottom floor so they could all say what they found without having to say it multiple times.

Shizuka looked put out that Connall had just cut her off before she could say what she had found before Connall stopped her and waited for the others to get out of earshot. "I know." He said, "But don't tell the others yet. Let's get them all safe before I have to deal with this. I can handle anything they send at me but not if I have to watch out for you guys as well. Please, Don't tell them yet. I promise, I'll tell them when we are all at my family's together." Connall pleaded with Shizuka already knowing that she had found a warning just like he had.

"Fine. But only if you promise not to let anything happen to you. I already know nothing will happen to us, but you can't let anything happen to you either. You are important to us." Shizuka said with tears threatening in her eyes.

"I know." Connall replied, "And I promise, nothing will happen to me before we get to the airport. From there you're home free." Shizuka half-smiled as Connall flashed his cocky grin again and turned down the hallway to follow the others.

"No you really don't know." Shizuka muttered to herself as she followed Connall.

When they were all downstairs there was an assortment of equipment that they could use for the upcoming rescue missions. Kohta and Takashi had found a few semi-automatic rifles with a crate of ammunition, Shizuka had found better medical supplies, and Saeko, Rei, and Saya had found working radios.

"This is great guys. But I've got something better. If you would follow me outside." Connall said as he walked towards the back doors. When they were all outside he showed them the back of the truck that now had a Howitzer attached to the trailer hitch.

"Don't you think that's a bit much?" Kohta asked pointing at the artillery piece.  
"Kohta. Kohta. Kohta." Connall said while shaking his head, "There is no such thing as overkill. Just judicious use of large caliber ammunition on unsuspecting targets." He finished with a grin.

An hour later they left the barren outpost behind them as they made their way to the mall. When they arrived they saw that the building was surrounded on all sides by at least 1000 of Them. Too many to ever hope of being able to get through unless they had a tank. Rei was devastated that they might not be able to rescue her family; But, before she could start to over react Connall started up his truck again and pulled a u-turn before turning the behemoth off again. He calmly walked over to the hitch before disengaging it and, with no small amount of effort, moved the cannon up to the top of the hill.

The rest of the group followed along before stopping as Connall, without saying a word, walked right back to the truck and returned with a large crate on his shoulders.

"What are you doing?" Rei finally question.  
"How far is it to that mall as the crow flies?" Connall asked back completely ignoring Rei's question.  
"What? About 6 kilometers. Why?" Rei responded with a confused tone.  
"Oh, no reason." Connall replied as he opened the crate and removed a shell, "Just thinning that crowd a little before I get there. I just hate large amounts of people getting too close to me." He continued before closing the hatch.

"By the way. Y'all might want to cover your ears. This gets kinda loud." He finished with a wide grin as he aimed the gun. The rest of the group scrambled to get away from the gun with their hands over their ears as Connall finished aiming his cannon. "Boom, there it is." Connall muttered before pulling the string.

The cannon went off with a bone shaking BOOM! As the group took their hands off their ears they observed the grouping of zombies for a moment before a 10-meter diameter hole appeared in their ranks taking with it at least 50 of their number. Connall looked over his handiwork before saying "And this is why the Marine Corps says that artillery brings dignity to what would otherwise be just a brawl." Before he turned and went back to the truck for another round.

25 rounds later the parking lot around the mall was littered with craters, limbs, and dead bodies. Connall looked over the devastation before declaring that it was now safe for them to go down.  
"I would think so!" Saya exclaimed, "There's nothing but craters and dead bodies down there!"  
"Oh no" Connall replied with a straight face, "I'm put of ammo." Saya could think of nothing to do except face-palm at Connall's idea of when it was appropriate to approach an area.

When they arrived at the mall proper they picked their way around the craters and when they finally arrived at the front door Rei jumped out of the hummer and all but tackled one of the adults there.  
"Mom!" She cried without easing her death grip on the woman.  
"Rei? How did you get here? What caused all the holes in the parking lot? I told you to not worry about me. That we'd be fine." Her mother scolded.

"Ma'am?" The explosions in the lot were caused by me and my new toy a 155 Howitzer. I've been trained on the weapons system before and without it we wouldn't have been able to get through the hoard without using an extreme amount of ammunition. Now, if you would please, tell me where the loading dock is? It's been a long day and its almost dark. Not a fit time for us to take you all to the airport for evac."

"What are you talking about? Eavc?" She replied.  
"Nevermind. For now, just point us at the docking area so we can park for the night. We can talk later please?" Connall half begged as he wanted to get inside so they could stop being a massive target for anyone that came by.  
"The loading docks are behind the building. Look for the one for Sears. That's the closest one with the best doors."

After moving the truck and hummer to the loading docks and unloading all the weapons. They secured all the doors and windows to make sure none of Them got in through the night. As they made dinner they answered a plethora of questions on how they got there, where they were going, and who they were. Rei introduced the group to the mall survivors which consisted of 2 police officers, a mechanic, 8 civilians, and 13 mall employees.

The two police officers were Asami and Shimada, and the mechanic was Hirohito. Connall lost track of who the rest were as he was busy cleaning his new M-60 and making sure everything was in working order.

The group broke up into their different stores and areas to sleep and ready themselves for the trip to the airport. Connall found a camping store and quickly appropriated a camping hammock complete with mosquito netting, rain fly, and tree straps just in case. Connall watched as everyone bedded down for the night before noticing that Shizuka was missing as well as the cop Shimada.

Assuming that Shizuka was just lost again Connall left his hammock and began a one-man manhunt for the ditzy nurse. "She could get lost in a one room schoolhouse." Connall muttered to himself before he hit the top of the dead escalator that he hadn't even noticed he'd been climbing. "Wow man. Such great situational awareness. You could be an Olympian with it." He reprimanded himself before focusing on finding his friend.

Hearing faint yelling as he passed one store Connall stopped and noticed that it was a mattress supply place. "Someone is thinking." Connall thought as he headed further in.

"Dressing like that. And you thought no one would notice? Wow you are just a blond bimbo." Connall heard as he approached what was probably the stock room. As he opened the door he heard the voice from before again. "You dress like a whore so I'm going to treat you like one. Who knows you'll probably enjoy it." The voice cackled.

Connall's blood began to boil as he figured out what was going on around the corner. And if just hearing about it happening to someone sent him boil, what he heard next made him apocalyptic. "No! I'm a nurse and had to rip it to be able to outrun Them. Leave me alone I just want a change of clothes!" Shizuka yelled.

"You'll get a change of clothes alright. Heh heh. Right af-urk!" was all that Shimada got out before he had a hand with an iron grip around his throat. The next thing he saw made him nearly wet his pants as he went from staring at a nearly naked nurse to the absolutely glacial blue eyes of a beyond angry immortal.

"She said NO!" Connall roared as he rocketed his left fist into the hanging policeman's struggling body. Shimada's body was sent flying across the room before impacting the wall so hard it had spider webbing cracks where his body hit. As Connall began his way across the room to finish the job he was halted by the gentle voice of the blonde nurse "Connall?" He turned towards the voice and upon seeing her glistening eyes forgot about the would be rapist and went to her.

"It's alright." Connall said as he gently hugged Shizuka, "He won't bother you again."  
"Can we go now. Please? I don't want to be here." Shizuka all but begged.  
"Absolutlely." Connall replied as he gently picked Shizuka up and carried her to the Macy's across the mall. "Here." He said as he set her down in the woman's section. Grab a change of clothes, I'll be right back."  
"Wait!" Shizuka exclaimed as she grabbed his arm "Please. Stay with me. I don't want to be alone right now."  
"As you wish." Connall replied gently knowing she wanted a security blanket at the moment and she had chosen him as such.

When she had finished changing he tried to take her back to the mattress store to get her a comfortable bed for the night, but she vehemently refused not wanting to be on anything resembling a mattress for a while. Connall took her back to the main area where he had hung up his double hammock and lifted her into it before attempting to leave for a second hammock.

"No. Please, sleep next to me. I don't want anything to happen overnight." She begged him with tears threatening to roll down her face.  
"O.K." Connall relented as he climbed into the hammock next to her, "Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise." Connall said as she snuggled up next to him. After he said that she finally relaxed and before long she had fallen asleep using Connall as her pillow. "Well," Connall sighed "This ain't how I expected my night to go." He muttered before laying his head down and falling asleep.

The next morning Connall was shaken awake, however before the hand had completed a full revolution in the shake it was grabbed and pulled forward with his khukri sprinting forward towards exposed flesh. It stopped just touching Takashi's neck and once Connall realized who he had almost killed he immediately retracted his knife and released Takashi's hand.

"Sorry. It was a reflex." Connall said which Takashi waved off.  
"No surprise there, with the walking dead and your history I should've known not to wake you up. But I figured it was ok since you were sleeping next to her." And with that Connall realized who he had next to him. She was still dead to the world and looked like an angel. 'Wait. What? Never mind, worry later move now.' Connall thought as he began to wake up Shizuka.

As the group met all together for breakfast Asami asked if anyone had seen Shimada. His bed was still made when she woke up and she couldn't find him anywhere. Most everyone started to get a little antsy thinking that maybe one of Them had gotten inside and claimed the policeman's life. Until Connall opened his mouth, then they were really antsy.

"I saw him last night." Connall said, "He was trying to rape Shizuka so I introduced him to my fist. Last I saw him he was on the ground in the stock room of the matress store on the top level trying to learn how to breathe again. He's probably dead by now if the snapping ribs I heard were accurate." Connall said without changing his tone. Merely continued to eat his oatmeal and check on Shizuka making sure she was ok after the previous night.

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Asami screamed, mortified that someone could be so cold when talking about what amounted to murder.

"He should be glad Shizuka spoke up when she did. Otherwise I'd have made his passing much more painful." Connall continued.

"But why?" Asami asked.

"Because my family despises rapists. The only thing close to a rapist in our book is a traitor." Connall relied coldly, "Now can we move on. We have better things to do than worry about the death of a rapist."

Asami appeared mortified at first before she acquiesced to Connall's logic. As much as she might hate what happened in this new world they couldn't hold to the old laws as much as they once did.

After breakfast they all packed up anything that they could that was useable and piled into the two vehicles. With one little problem.

"Mom! I want to go with them to check on Takashi's mom." Rei yelled.  
"Absolutely not! I just got you back and you think I'm letting you go back into that hell?" Kiriko replied hotly.  
"We've been fine so far. And with Connall we'll be fine." Rei retorted. Everyone but two missing the slight flinch that Connall gave upon hearing that.  
"Yes and he seems like a nice enough man but you are going to the airport young lady where you will be safe, not gallivanting around where I can't keep an eye on you."  
"No! I'm going to…." Was all that Rei could say before a hand came down and chopped her on the neck.

Connall caught her before she could touch the ground and handed her to her mother.  
"Here. One over hormonal teenager." Connall grunted "Now get going before she wakes up. If she gives you any lip tell her I promise to keep her boyfriend safe." He said as he turned around and headed for the hummer which had been modified with Hirohito's help to have dual M-60's mounted around the hole in the roof.

Takashi hearing what Connall said blushed heavily as he tried to make himself invisible in the window seat at Kiriko smirked knowingly at him. As the hummer took off Kiriko loaded her daughter into the back and hopped into the driver's seat before heading towards Kaminaga International Airport.

Takashi's group arrived at the hospital without any trouble and got out of the vehicle as quietly as possible to avoid attracting any attention from hiding zombies. Connall took one look at the 23-story hospital that surrounded a large courtyard before stopping everyone.

"We can't search this entire building without exposing ourselves to absolutely stupid levels of risk. Takashi! Your mom got good ears or is she deaf?" Connall asked gruffly.  
"She can hear fine why?" He replied.  
"Well everyone back in the car. I need my sword and a 60." Connall said as he threw most of his guns and ammo into the back of the hummer before drawing a spare M-60 and his broadsword out.

As everyone else hopped back into the hummer with looks of askance on their faces Connall walked into the middle of the courtyard stopping only to pick up a loud speaker from off the groud.

"He's not going to do what I think he is. Is he?" Takashi asked.  
Saeko and Shizuka simply looked at him with an expression that screamed 'What do you think?' with sarcasm so thick it could blanket the floor.  
"I thought as much." Takashi said in dismay as he watched Connall stride to the middle of the courtyard before activating the loudspeaker.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. I AM HERE LOOKING FOR . IF YOU WOULD PLEASE SIGNAL WHICH FLOOR YOU ARE ON WE WILL COME AND GET YOU. OR YOU CAN come out the front door like nothing's wrong." Connall went from yelling into the loudspeaker to simply muttering to himself in the middle of the courtyard.

"Mom! Takashi yelled as he sprang from the hummer and sprinted to his mother and tackled her into the grass.  
"How are you? How did you avoid Them? We were told this place was overrun with those monsters." Takashi shot out questions as quick as he could think of them.  
"Well this place was overrun until yesterday. Then there were the loud explosions from the other side of town and they all left. I barricaded myself on the roof until they were all gone and I've been fortifying this place since." She replied.

"See I told you high-explosives can fix any problem." Connall said jovially.  
"No you didn't. You just wanted a reason to shoot your cannon." Everyone yelled at him good naturedly.  
"Ah, alas I cannot tell a lie. That is too true." Connall said with an air of a politician on the stand causing everyone but Takashi's mom to laugh at him.

"Wait Takashi, who is this and why are you and everyone else in a hummer? asked causing the group to slowly stop laughing before looking at Takashi to explain everything.

"Wait Takashi. Tell her everything while we head to the airport. I don't want to miss the last flight." Connall stated and everyone nodded before piling into the cramped hummer. Connall saw that it was a tight fit and hopped on the roof for more room before pulling out a pen and paper.

As they made their way to the airport Takashi told his mother everything that had happened or tried to with everyone butting in to make adjustments and additions to Takashi's rendition of the story. Several hours later they all arrived at the airport and were met by Kiriko and a very angry Rei along with Saya's parents and another who was an unknown who carried a very nice sniper rifle.

* * *

When we stopped in front of the group and I hopped off Rei began marching right towards me with a look on her face that would make even a demon scared. So drawing on my massive amounts of combat and tactical training I did what any sane man would do. I grabbed Takashi and threw him at her while yelling at him to protect me. Which inadvertently led to them kissing. Never thought a girl could go from furious to embarrassed so quickly. I thought it was hilarious as did most of the others in the group.

When we finally got over our laughter and everyone was introduced I was pulled to the side by Shizuka who dragged me over to the other female who had the nice sniper rifle.  
"Connall this is my friend Rika. Rika this is Connall." Shizuka said to introduce us.  
"Nice to meet you Connall. You know, you have the same name as a long lost family member of mine." Rika mused.  
"Well that's probably cause I am that family member Rika. My full name is Connall Mcloughlin. Son of the King of Shadows and his wife the last princess of the Land of Demons. The Prodigal Son kidnapped centuries ago and am finally returning to my rightful place as clan leader."

Rika had a look of complete astonishment on her face before she promptly squealed like a teenage girl that won front row tickets to a Justin Bieber concert. She leapt forward grabbing me in a hug before lifting me up and swinging me around in her arms all the while yelling that her long lost fiancé had finally come home. Much to the ire of two other females.

When she finally put me down again looking extremely embarrassed since everyone was staring at us now. Some with amusement, some with happiness that two people finally found each other again, and two that looked like they wanted to kill her.

"That's great and all." I said in regards to our betrothel, "But I have one more promise to fulfill before I can come home. O.K?"

"What! Damnit! Ahhh fine, but you better come back a hell of a lot quicker than the last time you disappeared. You damn near killed your mother last time." Rika said with some heat.

"I'll be faster this time. I promise." I said with a painfull twist in my gut. 'Smooth move exlax. How are you going to keep this promise?' I thought as I walked back towards the main group with Rika.

As we merged with the group once more I discreetly signaled for Saeko to come over. When she came over I told her that I had to separate from the group for a while and that I would catch up with them soon. She hugged me before saying that I had better come back. As we separated I slipped the letter that I had written on the way to the airport into her pocket.

* * *

As the group started towards a plane Shizuka noticed that Connall was in the hummer and slipped away from the group unnoticed by Rika because of the suddenly massive group. As Connall drove away from the group Shizuka saw an abandoned car in the lot with the keys still in it. After a quick moral battle about the ethics of stealing she left with the new car following Connall as best she could.

When Connall finally stopped he was back at the abandoned military outpost that they had stopped at on the way to the mall to rescue Rei's mom. 'What are you doing back here? You should be on the plane with the rest of us.' Shizuka thought as she got out of the car to trail Connall.

As she snuck up to the corner of the building she heard voices. She kept quiet and listened and this is what she heard.

"So nice of you to come back to us Experiment 013."  
"I only came back because I promised to protect my friends and you threatened them. So who wants to die first?"  
"Oh none of us are going to die. You are going to come back willingly."  
"That's so much shit coming out of your mouth I'm surprised a tree hasn't sprouted yet."  
"Oh but don't you remember your promise? It was close to 300 years ago now I'm not surprised you've forgotten. If we let you free for one week you would come back to us willingly."  
"So you seek to imprison me once again. Only instead of threatening my parents who you don't have you play upon my honor. Nice try but pull the other one it's got bells on."

Suddenly a hand clamped down on Shizukas mouth and before she could do anything to free herself she was thrown on the ground in-between Connall and the mystery man. Connall looked surprised to see one of his close friends thrown to the ground in front of him while the other looked as smug as the cat that ate the canary.

He was an average height adult male with brown eyes and blond hair wearing a white suit and matching cane. "Why you'll come back willingly unless you want this pretty young lady's brains splattered all over the floor."  
Connall was stuck. He couldn't deny because of his promise to keep her safe but he couldn't accept due to his promise to return home. He could do nothing.

"Of course if you come quietly we promise to let the girl go."

And there it was. The tipping point.  
"Agreed. As long as she goes free I will come quietly." Connall promised.  
"NO! Connall you can't. What about your promise to return home."  
"That's easy." Connall said before lifting his hand to his mouth and biting through the flesh ripping open a gaping wound in his forearm. He then proceeded to draw his family crest onto Shizuka's forehead. "Now my crest which is a part of me will return home. My promises are fulfilled." 'Albeit in an extremely round-a-bout fashion.' Connall thought to himself.

"I'll see you later. Marikawa-san." Connall muttered.  
"What did you say?" asked the man in the white suit.  
"What? You have me and you promised to let her go. What difference does her name make."  
"All the difference in the world fool!" Shouted the man derisively.  
"Now you Bitch what is your name?" He continued.  
"My name is Shizuka Marikawa shit stain. Why?" Shizuka spat at him.  
"Amazing one of them does live. And we caught her with Experiment 013. Lady Luck smiles upon me today!"

"Take her with us." The man ordered.  
"WHAT!" Connall roared "We had a deal!"  
"Yes and I've changed that deal." The man said "Shouldn't you be happy that we are bringing your little girlfriend with us. I'll even put you in the same cage."

At this Connall broke and lept for the man wishing only to kill him. Until a scream brought him from his blood lust.  
"Connall!" Shizuka screamed as one of the men put a gun to her head.  
"You will go into the cage of your girlfriend dies." The white suited man said with the air of a man that knows he's won.

And so Connall obliged the man. Seething wishing only pain and death upon those that captured him again and threatened what was his. The man in white made a grave miscalculation you threaten a monster and try to break it to your will. You will fail. If you try to break it using loved ones. You've written your own death sentence.

The promise has been broken, the demon awakened and restrained. Deep in Connall's subconscious a pair of eyes open. Blacker than space and colder than absolute zero. Chains snap and pillars crumble.

"It has begun. Soon he will awaken. For good or ill only time will tell." The shade said as he observed the awakening.


	7. Alligator mouth, meet Pigeon ass

When Shizuka awoke she was in a pitch black room, laying on a mattress with a metal collar around her throat. As she looked around the lights began to turn on slowly and they illuminated a man standing by the door to her cell.

"Good afternoon my dear." Came a voice as slippery as a buttered snake, "Did you sleep well? No headaches, nausea, or cramps?"

"Who the fuck are you?" Shizuka spat out with as much venom as she could muster.

"Ahhh. Such manners. I expected better from a lady of your status." He continued.

"What status? You don't know me and I sure as hell don't know you so what in the world are you trying to pull?" Shizuka replied angrily as she looked over the man in front of her. He was a plain man with brown eyes and blond hair. The type that she saw every day in the crowds as she walked around the malls and shops around town. A perfectly average man in every way. Except for one.

He was the same man that had captured Connall and forced him into a cage. He knew of Connall's past with the Death Watch and most importantly, he was trying to break her friend by using her. As she pieced all this together a faint stirring could be felt in her gut as her mind planned many vicious ways to kill the man in front of her.

Shizuka was more than most thought. She wasn't a great defender like Connall, she wasn't as smart as Saya or good with weapons like Kohta, Saeko, and Rei, and she wasn't a good leader like Takashi. But by God, she knew the human body. She had passed her medical classes without even trying and had read through every medical book that she could find and knew how to cure and inflict injuries that would reduce even the strongest man into a quivering wreck with less force than was needed to lift a pen.

As her mind plotted new ways to inflict pain upon this evil bastard in front of her, her stomach had other plans. Her stomach quickly began to twist into painful knots that dropped Shizuka back onto the bed clutching her stomach in pain.

"HAHAHA! That proves it! You really are a Marikawa! Oh I thought you were all dead long ago. I've wanted to use one of you for a very long time." The man cackled as he watched Shizuka writhe around in pain.

While the man was laughing at his luck and Shizuka's pain another pair of eyes opened. These a cloudy blue as the man tried to remove the cobwebs from his mind. Connall looked around as best he could and quickly discovered that he was strapped to a medical table.

"Ah good. You're awake. It'd be a pity to let the boys in while you were unconscious." A shadowy figure said from just beyond the halo of light cast by the above lamps.

"How ya been Fuckface?" Connall asked, "Whats it been 65? 70 years since I last saw you?"

"It's been 68 years!" The man screamed hoarsely as he stepped into the light. He was an elderly man with little wisps of hair on his head and large liver spots speckling his visible body parts.

"You did this to me!" He yelled as he gestured to his left leg that was apparently amputated mid-thigh. "You crippled me. You took the only thing that mattered to me. I was never allowed into the military because you crippled me! Now I can have my revenge. But alas I am too old and weak to make you suffer as you should. So instead, I'll have my associates do it for me." The man smiled wickedly as a door opened behind him and several men walked in with evil grins on their faces.

"You see when you escaped you killed many of our men."  
"Oh dearie me." Connall interrupted with an extremely condescending tone, "I feel so bad."  
"Oh you will. I taught each of them everything about how to inflict the maximum amount of pain while not leaving a mark. They also have the added incentive because they are related to the men that you murdered."  
"If they didn't want to be dead, they shouldn't have stood between me and freedom."

With that their conversation was over as the man stepped away and the others stepped forward with various implements in their hands. As the man exited the room he left with the sound of pained grunts coming from the bound captive bringing a smile to his face.

Several weeks later

Connall awoke and was surprised to find that he wasn't in a hospital bed and with no guards or monitors for him to have to deal with. With a pained grunt he began to get out of bed until a very surprised Shizuka began to walk over.

"Connall! What are you doing? You shouldn't be awake much less moving around." Shizuka said.  
"Shizuka? What are you doing here? You should be on the plane with the rest of the group. How the hell did you get here?" Connall replied.  
"I'm here because you tried to sneak away. Ever since I saw that damn sign in the clinic at the military outpost a few weeks ago, I knew that you were in more trouble than you let on. Don't you remember? That's' how they got you again. They threatened me until you agreed to get in a cage."  
"Shit. I knew I should've waited til take off. So why am I in this bed and with no guards? Last time this happened I turned the place into a cemetery."  
"They said that you wouldn't dare endanger a friend and they put an explosive collar around my neck. If you do anything that they don't like they will kill me. I don't have the collar on now because they figure as long as they don't do anything too rash you'll be easier to handle."  
"Well what do you know, an old dog can learn new tricks. So other than to keep me on a leash easier why are you still alive. What I told you is enough to get anyone killed. They don't like anyone even thinking they might exist but you're still here. And what did he mean when he said you were a Marikawa?"

"I don't know." Shizuka replied, "He said that he thought that all of us were dead and he was excited to be able to use one of us. I don't know anything else."  
"Great. Neither of us know what is going on and they hold all the cards and knowledge. This is gonna be tougher than I thought."

Before they could go any further in their conversation the door at the far end of the room opened and the creep in the white suit walked through.

"Well how are you sleeping beauty? Did you have a nice nap?" He said condescendingly.

"Absolutely Francis. I had an especially nice dream of fucking your mother in the ass a while ago. If you want, I can tell you all about it later. I know how you're into those things."

"Sarcasm doesn't become you Connall. Now come, we are way behind on your experiments since your unscheduled leave and I want to catch up. Don't worry about I'm sure the guards will be happy to entertain her while you are occupied. And since you weren't present at the first meeting about the rules I'll give you the short version. Do anything we don't like and she will pay the price. If you run she dies if you refuse an order… Well there are worse things than death."

"You better not be implying what I think you are. Or they are going to need a new doctor for the tests. Along with a new base. You have my word, you don't do anything to harm her and I won't give the Company a new definition of 'Hell on Earth'." Connall replied with a low growl.

"Deal. Now come we have much to do and little time to do it in."

After Connall had left the room and the door was closed again Shizuka broke down crying. She wept for her friend and the trouble she had caused him. Because of her Connall was back in this hell and now that he had given his word he could never leave or else he would break his vow. 'But, he would only break his vow if he left or disobeyed them and they hadn't hurt her.' Shizuka thought as she dried her eyes before spending the rest of the day planning on how to cause the Company, as Connall referred to it, to think that they needed something from her and get hurt during the process.

Months later

"Don't worry Shizuka, they are just going to test my endurance and immunity today. I'll be a little weak for a couple days from the toxins and stuff but I'll be fine by the time movie night comes up." Connall said, completely misunderstanding why Shizuka was so nervous.

"Ok Connall. Long as you're sure that you won't get hurt too badly. Heh. It's weird saying that. I'm so used to saying 'Don't get hurt' It feels weird to add on 'too badly'. Shizuka replied.

"I know. You are a doctor to the bone and never want anyone to get hurt." Connall replied as he left under heavy guard.

Thousands of miles away

"THE HELL YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T FOUND THEM YET!?" screamed a very angry young lady, "YOU FUCKERS SAID THAT THEY'D BE BACK BEFORE I COULD SAY ANTIDISESTABLICHMENTARIANISM! I'VE HAD ENOUGH TIME TO NOT ONLY SAY IT BUT WRITE A DAMN BOOK ON IT'S ORIGINS AND MY CONNALL STILL AIN'T BACK YET!"

"Saeko calm down." Rika ordered thoroughly ignoring how possessive Saeko was of her fiancé, "They've tracked them down but with no planes and all the zombies in the way it's going to take some time."

"Time!" Saeko exclaimed, "Time! They don't have time. They've been in those bastard's clutches for months and we've done nothing." She continued at a much lower volume.

"I know but don't worry. If they wanted him dead, they would have killed him at the outpost. That coupled with the lack of bodies means that Shizuka is alive as well. They are probably just experimenting on Connall trying to get new drugs or something." Rika replied.

"How can you say that? They could be torturing him for all you know!"

"He withstood centuries of imprisonment with them. If he didn't crack, then there's no way they could crack him in a couple months. And there's no way that they are hurting Shizuka cause he's not back yet. So, that means that they are holding Shizuka and him using Shizuka to make sure he doesn't kill them all again. Now are you going to keep bitching or are you going to train for the assault that we are going on?"

"Let's go. You have much to teach me and little time to teach me in." Saeko said as she dragged Rika after her heading to the nearest training yard.

Back with Shizuka

After Connall returned from the latest batch of tests he was dropped on the couch in front of the small TV before the guards exited the room again.

"Damnit Connall." Shizuka cried, "How can long can you keep this up? You may be immortal to age but you can still be killed. Why must you push your luck this way?"

"To protect you. If I didn't do this, they would take you and use you as a test subject as well. It's better this way. I know I can handle it." Connall replied just before nodding off to sleep.

"Oh Connall." Shizuka said as she bemoaned her love's condition before falling asleep next to him as the TV droned on.

In a darkened room adjacent to the prison cell stood Francis watching as the two subjects cuddled on the couch.

"Seems I was right." He said to himself, "Well if you can't have the chicken why not go for its eggs. Activate the serum." He ordered as he watched the sleeping couple hoping that this latest test would bare better fruits than the previous iterations.

As he watched the sleeping couple several technicians began flipping switches and typing commands furiously into the computers hoping that all would go according to plan.

While they typed away at their computers tiny capsules in Connall's body released a cocktail of drugs into his system while the TV turned to a more risqué channel with the volume turned up just enough to be heard.

Connall awoke extremely groggy and was very slow in piecing together where he was as the TV played something that he couldn't hear. As he became more awake he began to notice that his body was telling him to fulfill a certain need. One of the oldest and most basic needs of all. The need to procreate. And with a beautiful maiden sleeping right next to him he didn't even have to go looking for someone.

Without conscious thought he began to strip Shizuka of her clothes as they were in the way. As he did this Shizuka woke up and upon seeing what was happening she screamed. This angered Connall and he slapped her lifting her up off the couch before going back to trying to rip off her clothes so he could scratch an itch that he had been unaware of until he had awoken.

When Shizuka finally recovered from the blow both she and Connall were naked with Connall between her legs about to take from her something that could never be replaced. Panicking she grabbed the snack dish from the small table in front of the couch and smashed it over Connall's head. With him temporarily dazed she pulled back her foot before implanting it with as much force as she could into his gut aiming for his solar plexus.

With his breathe knocked out of him and still dazed from the dish to his head Connall couldn't recover in time before Shizuka escaped his clutches and ran to the other side of the room hiding on the other side of a small table. "Connall what are doing?" She begged of him as he recovered and threw the couch away from him.

Unknown to either Shizuka or to Francis, Connall was fighting a desperate battle of his own completely unaware of what was going on in the real world.

Connall had awoken in a familiar landscape but this time instead of being clear it was very cloudy and he couldn't see anything in the distance as he could every other time. "SHADE!" Connall yelled within his own mind, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" His answer came in the form of a figure flying through the air before smashing into him.

Connall looked over the figure and the closer he looked the worse it was. Several bones were sticking through the phantoms skin and he was covered in blood and deep cuts. "What did this to you? Nothing should be able to hurt you, I mean you are a figment of my imagination how can something hurt you?" Connall asked as he tried to bandage the wounds with scraps of what used to be the shade's shirt.

"IT did."  
"What do you mean IT did?" Connall replied in askance.  
"I mean that you are a complete bastard. You couldn't just like one chick NOOOOOO you just had to fall in love with three of them."  
"What are you talking about? I don't even love one person how can you say that I love three?"  
"You really are an idiot aren't you?" The Shade asked rhetorically, "I mean that you are in love with three different women and somehow you managed to do what is supposedly impossible and awaken The Guardian without even realizing that you love someone let alone three of them."

"Fine if you're so damn smart who am I supposed to be in love with?"  
"Uhhh." The shade grunted in exasperation as he waved his hand and three pictures came up with very familiar faces; Shizuka, Saeko, and Rika.  
"How can I love any of them? I just met Shizuka and Saeko a week or two ago and I only just met Rika."  
"Wow! You really forgot? I would've thought that the girl that kicked your ass all those years ago and sent you to the hospital with 7 broken ribs, a broken shoulder blade, and a fractured skull would've made a more lasting impression. As for Shizuka and Saeko, well, love is not only blind but apparently stupid as well." The Shade replied.

"Fine. So I might actually like them a little bit, what does that have to do with you looking like you went five rounds with Mike Tyson on steroids after fucking his wife?" Connall asked desperate to get off the subject of his love life.

"When someone like you loves someone it awakens an instinct to protect them at all costs. The form this instinct takes varies from person to person. You apparently got more of my genes than I thought and you became the second bearer of Cerberus the Hell Hound." Upon seeing the confused look on Connall's face he continued, "Cerberus is the not-so-mythical protector of Death's Gate. I became the first bearer of him long ago when I paid old skeleton face a visit. Don't ask, you don't want to know. Anyways long story short I had fallen for three women and I needed to protect them from something no one could stop so through a couple misadventures I ended up with Cerberus in me. One head to protect each girl. How you got him is a funny story actually…" The Shade was then interrupted by a loud voice from nowhere screaming for Connall to please stop because he was hurting her.

Connall immediately recognized the voice as Shizuka's and began charging around trying to find her. "STOP!" The Shade yelled, "If you want to save her you need to get to Cerberus and stop his rampage, then you need to stop yourself. Cerberus is trying to protect her but you can't protect yourself from yourself. To stop him you need to convince him that you can do it without his help. Now Go! Hurry!" The shade said and before any further words could be spoken Connall took off like a shot in the direction that the Shade had come flying from.

When Connall arrived he was greated with the sight of the biggest meanest canine that he had ever seen. Cerberus was easily 3 stories tall with pitch black fur with white flames coming from his mouth and paws. "Hey! Hey Cerberus!" Connall yelled, "Stop! I can handle this but you need to stand down!"

"Why should I believe you?" came a voice directly into Connall's mind, "Your foolishness led to our mate being hurt and I must destroy anything that hurts your mate."

"Yes. I understand but you were to only do so if I couldn't protect them myself. And with you smashing around in here I can't put my full attention on her protection. So you see, right now you are a liability not an asset. OK. Just let me protect her. Please?" Connall plead.

"You have 5 minutes. If you don't fix it by then I'm stepping in. Understood?"  
"Crystal." Connall said as he faded from the landscape thinking he would be prepared for anything.

Connall had been stalking to the table that Shizuka had been hiding behind until for no observable reason he just stopped cold. Thinking that it was just a trick to get her to let her guard down Shizuka just became more highly strung than she had been previously.

Connall blearily looked around as he tried to figure out what was going on while he had been stuck conversing with dumb dumb and fluffy. When he realized that he was butt naked and in front of the object of his affections he blushed hard enough for it to be seen from space and immediately covered himself as best he could as he collapsed to the floor.

Shizuka, seeing that Connall was himself once more, rushed over to his side completely ignoring the fact that both of them were in their birthday suits. Connall looked up at her and then around at the room before asking Shizuka what had just happened.

She explained to Connall that she had awoken to him stripping her and when she had tried to get away he nearly knocked her unconscious and then continued as if nothing had happened. She continued telling him that he had nearly raped her before she had broken a bowl over his head and kicked him as hard as she could in the stomach.

Connall felt sickened that he would ever even consider doing such a thing even more so to a friend of his. But before he could even begin to apologize he felt his control slipping once more. Just like when he was younger and would lose control.

"Shizuka! Get away from me!" Connall commanded.

"What?" Shizuka asked with a confused look on her face.

"I'm losing control again." Connall grunted as he had to force back the red haze that seemed to cloud his vision, "Run to the bathroom and lock the door. Out of sight, out of mind."

"Lock the bathroom. As long as they are in the same room the drugs will force him to mate with her and then we will have an army that none can stop." Francis said as he watched from behind the one-way mirror.

"The doors locked it won't open!" Shizuka called from across the room before she rushed back to Connall, "You have to fight it. You've never let me down before and I know you can win. You just have to fight it." Shizuka said to him with tears in her eyes as she watched her love poisoned by the bastards that held her and him to do something he never wanted to do.

"I can't. Whatever this is is too strong for me. I have to… to…" Connall stopped mid-sentence as he tried to think of somewhere for her to go to be safe from him for the night while the drug wore off. But there was nowhere else that she could go that he couldn't easily get to her. Unless… "Shizuka, get away for a minute, I have an idea." Connall said with a strained voice as he held back the primal, nearly irresistible urge to just take the woman next to him.

Shizuka backed away from Connall slightly still close enough to help him in an instant if he should need her. As Connall stood up he limped slowly to the table before crushing it into pieces with a hammer fist. The tabletop nearly ceased to exist from the force of the blow as the legs snapped off forming short spears of hardwood. The chairs were next as Connall unleashed a miniscule portion of his rage upon the unfortunate pieces of furniture.

Connall collected the table and chair legs before approaching the only entrance and slamming a table leg into the door and the frame pinning the door shut until the wood was removed. He then moved to the side towards the wall and with the wall to his back he lifted up one of the pieces of wood and speared himself through the arm between the radius and ulna bones so that he could not escape. Connall repeated the process with the remaining 10 pieces of wood using the two table legs as the main shackles and the 8 chair legs to ensure that he couldn't move and break the table legs without ripping apart several arteries and veins.

Shizuka stood in shock as she watched the love of her life staple himself to the wall using spears of wood that were as thick around as her wrist if not thicker. Connall soon passed out from the pain and blood loss but Shizuka was too afraid to approach him for fear of awakening him and the monster that the Company had forced him so become. She had never felt such rage and that night something deep within the kindest heart that Connall had ever met, something snapped.

The meek shy Shizuka that he and everyone was so accustomed to was changed forever. The ones that did this would soon discover the true meaning behind 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' not because they ignored her or hurt her. No Connall wouldn't allow them anywhere close enough to do such a thing, instead they had scorned her by hurting her beloved and nearly forcing him to rape her. And nothing and no one would get away with such a thing.

The rest of the night Shizuka sat on the bed watching Connall making sure he was still breathing and planning on how to show the Company exactly how badly they had just miscalculated.

Inside Connall's mind

"See fuzzy butt. I won. Now you listen to me, unless I directly and explicitly ask for your help you will do nothing without my express permission. Am I understood?" Connall asked as he glared at the former Guardian.

"Yes." A deep voice answered within Connall's head "But I must ask, who is the bitch? She smells much like a Marikawa; However, they were reported as extinct many years ago."

"First off, her name is Shizuka Marikawa. Secondly, I know that bitch is just your term for female but if you ever call her that again I will rip your head off and shit down your neck. Capiche?"

"Understood master. And if she is a Marikawa then you are certainly a lucky man. Few ever gain the eye of a member of that clan and even fewer catch a female's eye. Before you ask, the Marikawa's were a clan of doctors who loved peace above all else. There were some that even the mere thought of violence would cause them physical pain. They were the best doctors in the world. But the clan was supposedly wiped out many years ago during one of your people's many wars. They were wiped out by two armies because they each received intelligence that their people were ignored at the clan compound while the doctors focused only on the enemies' soldiers. Each army launched an attack and the doctors were slaughtered to a man."

"So how is she alive then?" Connall asked.

"That I do not know, but you have proven yourself an interesting, and extremely honorable man. Few would be able to catch a Marikawa's eye and even fewer would seek to stop themselves from hurting their love in the way you did. You have passed my test and I will allow you to use me as you see fit." Cerberus said with a bow of his heads.

"No. I will not use you. If you wish to be used join the Death Watch. They need all the help they can get. But if you wish to fight by my side then you can be my partner. No more, No less." Connall said as he stretched out his hand.

Cerberus leaned his center head forward and shoved it into Connall's hand while stating "Nothing would make me happier.".

"Good. Now rest up. We have much to do tomorrow after this toxin leaves my system. I just hope Shizuka will forgive me. "Connall finished in a low tone.

"She truly loves you. And if what I feel is correct, then I almost feel sorry for the poor fools that pissed her off." Cerberus replied with an evil glint in his eye.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't worry about that right now. For now, rest and recuperate, you will need your strength sooner rather than later." Cerberus finished as he lay down before Connall.

Connall looked at the Guardian with a puzzled look on his face before his body reminded him how tired it was after the events of the day. Connall shrugged figuring he could ask the mutt in the morning stepped closer to the mammoth canine before laying on one of his paws and falling into true sleep for the first time in months. One of Cerberus' heads opened a single eye before looking on Connall with a small grin and bringing his tail to blanket the immortal. "Things will definitely be more interesting from now on." He thought before he too slipped off into the arms of Morpheus.


	8. Reunion and Death

The next morning Connall awoke to an absolutely massive amount of pain. When he opened his eyes he was brutally reminded of the events of the previous night as he saw the spears of wood sticking out of his body in several places. He groaned as he carefully leaned forward and with his right hand ripped one of the spears out of his left forearm from between the two bones so he could begin to peel himself off the wall and see if Shizuka would help treat him even after the what had happened the night before.

What he didn't know was that Shizuka hadn't been fully asleep when he had started to rip out the spears, only resting extremely lightly on the cusp of true sleep as she wanted to help her love as soon as he was himself again; And Connall's grunt as well as the wet sucking sound accompanying the removal of the first spear was more than enough to rip her from her slumber and alert her that her hero was awake as well.

"Connall!", Shizuka cried as she saw him ripping the wood out of him and the wall behind him. She rushed over as Connall ripped out the last of the wood spears and began to stumble over to the bed.

Connall collapsed as he reached the edge of the bed forcing Shizuka to drag him fully onto the bed. She then began to bandage Connall's wounds amazed that he had inflicted such damage onto himself and yet still had the strength to drag himself across the room.

Several miles away

"Aright listen up!" yelled Rika, "We are here for one reason! And that is to rescue Connall McLoughlin. Our brother. He has been kept from us for too long and it is time that we bring him back to his family so he may retake his rightful place in our clan. Now squad leaders will meet with me to finalize our attack plans at 1900. We attack at 0300 so grab some shuteye if you can. Dismissed!"

After weeks of travel and rescuing trapped holdouts of still living people they had finally arrived where her fiancé was being held along with his 'friend'. Pah who was she kidding? Everyone could tell that she liked him. It was disgusting. How could she do this to her? Hanging off her fiancé like he was some towel rack. And that Saeko girl, she was barely old enough to even know how to fight she should at least know when someone was out of her league. Rika's mind continued on her current train of thought for quite a while easily crushing her feeble attempts at excuses for the young women. It didn't matter how much her logical and reasoning side tried to derail her thoughts, jealousy was firmly in control and wasn't giving up without a fight.

Underground lair – 0300

"Guard duty sucks man. Why the hell are we even up here? No one knows this place exists and none of those zombie things could ever break in." Guard 1 complained.

"It's not about guarding the base you idiot. Its punishment for you being a dumbass and the only reason I'm here is because of you dragging me into your stupid scheme to get with that Marikawa chick. No one is allowed near her for a reason. The head honchos just got their pet back and the only reason it was so easy was we got the drop on his little toy. I've seen what happened last time that fucker got loose and I have no wish to be on the same planet let alone the same base as IT if it happens aga! HURK!?" Guard 2 explained just before his throat was ripped out by a pair of black clad hands.

"Next time you kidnap my fiancé; make sure the rest of us are dead first." Rika informed the newly made corpse as the rest of the strike force infiltrated the outer defenses. "Alright; reaper team is in position. Hell Hounds, Status?"

"Hell Hounds are in position and ready to bring the pain."

"Remember our objective is the Marikwa. Connall will be fine as long as we keep her out of enemy hands." Rika reminded them. "Begin Operation: Homecoming."

Connall

"Ow OW OW OW **OW!** " Connall bitched as Shizuka bandaged his wounds with fresh gauze.

"If you weren't so adamant about constantly moving while I was doing this it'd be a whole lot less painful for you. And by the way, I watched you impale yourself to the wall with wooden spikes the size of my arm without flinching so do us both a favor and quit your bitching. You'll be fine." Shizuka told Connall exasperatedly. She had been dealing with his whining the entire time and she knew he was tougher than he was portraying. He was doing this just to get on her nerves.

"Well I thought you'd like it." Connall replied while trying, unsuccessfully, to pull 'Bambi eyes' on her. "I always heard that you women liked guys that were tough on the outside and all gooey on the inside. Like a Combos pretzel."

Sigh. "Where did you hear that load of rubbish?" Asked Shizuka rhetorically.

"One of those girly mags like Cosmo or something." Connall replied with a straight face.

All Shizuka could do in reply was just to stare at Connall like he had declared Bruce Jenner the hottest 'woman' of the millennia.

"Okay. When this is all done you and I are going to sit down and have a long conversation about how stupid you are to not only read that bullshit but to actually believe it." Shizuka said with a small sad smile on her face.

"What can I say, I never got tutored on women." Connall chuckled softly. "Ow. Ok no laughing until my chest heals."

 **BOOM!**

"What was that?" Shizuka cried.

"Five to one odds say that's a very pissed off fiancé along with anyone and everyone she could threaten, bribe, and cajole into an assault on a well-fortified base. Which would be most if not my entire clan." Connall replied with a smug grin.

"Wait. You have a fiancé? Who?" Shizuka asked with a breaking heart thinking she'd lost Connall before she could even try to get him.

"Oh? Yeah, I thought you knew. I've been engaged to Rika since we were 5 or so. It happened after she kicked my ass in our first sparing session. Dad thought it was hilarious and then mom got into it and the next thing I know I'm engaged. At the time I had no clue what that meant I just wanted to keep fighting. Not like it matters anyway. I gave my word that I would stay as long as you were ok. So unless they harm you I'm still honor bound to stay with them."

"No you're not." Shizuka replied and upon seeing his questioning look she kept going. "You were forced to attack me last night by them. You would never have tried to force yourself on me if not for whatever they pumped into you. And if it has to be physical harm I'm quite sure I can find something wrong between smashing a bowl over your skull and running around trying to avoid you." Shizuka continued as she pointed to a small bruise on her ankle.

"Are you a doctor or a lawyer?" Connall asked with a small grin. "Well then I guess it's time I get off my ass and bring some past-gen pain to these next-gen pussies." He continued as he picked himself off the bed and began putting on his boots. When he was done he told Shizuka to sit on the bed as he sequestered himself into the shadows next to the door and they both waited for the men to come and try to take them away.

A few moments later 3 men barged into the room; "Stand up! Quick! You're coming with us!" The leader of the three commanded as he continued forward with his two cronies just behind him. "Where's that freak that's here with you?" he questioned as he grabbed Shizuka by her arm.

"Oh? I'm going with you? Nah, I don't wanna. And the 'Freak' as you so delicately called him won't be joining you either." Shizuka calmly stated with a tiny smirk.

"What's that supposed to mean bitch? That Thing gave its word that it would listen to our orders as long as we didn't harm you. We didn't even touch you so he has to listen to us." He arrogantly replied.

"Ah yes. You see, there are many different kinds of wounds that can happen to a person; I mean I am a doctor so I should know. And your boss never specified what counted or didn't count as harm to me when he made the deal with Connall, so that left that particular part of the deal up to me to decide what harmed me and what didn't. I just happen to find that you bastards injecting my Connall with drugs that made him almost lose control and rape me to be harmful to me. And since it wouldn't have happened if you didn't force him it counts as you harming me. Doesn't it Connall?" Shizuka asked with a rather disturbing smirk upon her features.

"Well. You heard the lady. Looks like Payback Time don't it Lefty. Gimpy. Shorty." Connall stated in a cold tone as the two men froze in fear upon hearing the names Connall had bestowed upon them when they were first introduced to him when he was first brought in. They had been the most enthusiastic in his 'Reprogramming' upon his return and now, they were stuck in a tiny room with him with no backup, no weapons, and no chance to escape.

"Since a lady is present I'm going to forgo rewards of prolonged payback and deal with you quickly." Connall said before leaping into action.

Shorty could only watch in wide-eyed horror as Connall crushed Lefty's trachea leaving him to suffocate. As Shorty stood frozen in fear Connall stepped forward with a palm heel thrust to crush Shorty's nose driving shards of bone into the frontal lobe resulting in instantaneous death. Gimpy was the last one standing as Connall Spartan kicked him onto the floor, then stepping forward Connall finished the fight by crushing Gimpy's ribcage breaking it beyond all hope of repair forcing the jagged ends of the bones into Gimpy's lungs before stepping away and escorting Shizuka out the door. The last thought through Gimpy's mind before he drowned in his own blood was 'Momma said there'd be days like this'.

Connall and Shizuka fled down the hallway and rounded the first turn to find their way back to the front entrance when, "Shit!"  
"Huh?"  
WHAM! Crash!  
"Ouch" "Son of a bitch!" "Who just grabbed my ass?"

They happened to be reunited with their friends, if at a higher velocity than preferred.

Connall, being close to the front of the collision, was near the bottom however the floor was much softer than he thought. And a bit lumpier as well. As he tried to rise as the others crawled off of him he inadvertently flexed his hands to aid in his rise from the floor resulting in the firm squishiness of the ground to reveal it wasn't the ground at all.

"Didn't know you wanted an audience Connall." Rika said calmly with a smirk, "I'll have to keep that in mind on our honeymoon."

"Uh. Uh. Um. Uh. Well look at the time what say we go home and never speak of this again." Connall exclaimed as he jumped to his feet flustered and as red as a tomato.

"Connall!"

And he was reintroduced to the floor courtesy of a black haired missile named Saeko.

"OW!" Connall exclaimed as his wounds reopened thanks to an overly enthusiastic reunion with the third object of his affections.

"Connall! Saeko get off! I need to check his wounds. He just peeled himself off the wall not even an hour ago and you guys constantly beating him isn't helping him in the least." Shizuka ordered as she grabbed the makeshift bandages she had made before leaving their cell.

"What wounds? If this dirt bag can't even stand a couple of thugs without getting hurt, I really need to adjust the training schedule for him when he gets back." Rika scoffed.

"How about when he was poisoned with some very potent aphrodisiacs and stapled himself to the wall using stakes he made from chair and table legs to keep from raping me bitch!" Shizuka countered with venom.

"What? What do you mean 'rape you'? Rape is a violation of our oldest tenements and no one from our clan would ever contemplate doing such a thing." Rika stated as she moved closer to help bandage Connall's injuries.

"Not if they were in their right mind no they wouldn't but if given certain compounds combined with the correct visual and auditory stimulation the conscious mind could be superseded by the instinctual needs of the body." Shizuka attempted to explain.

"Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Rika questioned.

"It means Blood Rage with less killee and more fuckee." Connall clarified.

"That's what I said."

"Shizuka. Dear. You explained using words with more than two syllables. We are a clan of simple people with simple needs. Food, Weapons, and Targets; That's all we want most of the time. Higher education is rarely a concern, at least that was when I was with them it might have changed some since my last visit." Connall stated.

"It's changed some." Rika interjected "We get bachelor degrees about half the time. Usually in business or criminal justice to help with finance and get new identities."

"Oooh. Fancy." Connall teased as Shizuka finished up bandaging him.

"Oh shut up jackass." Rika replied without heat "Now how about we save the joyful reunion for later and head home before your mom decides we are taking too long and comes to get you herself. Afterall you did promise you'd be back quicker this time."

Connall paled whiter than a sheet of paper at the thought of his mother coming to get him. "Shit! OK lets go let's go get a move on people we have better places to be." Connall ordered still panicking at the thought of his mother's rage at him for not coming home immediately.

And thus they were reunited in the depths of a secret enemy base with no doubt that they would finally get to go home without a secret society out for them and with little more to worry about than a couple zombies trying to kill them and a mother's rage. Alas all good things must come to an end.

"OK, Alpha and Bravo you're on perimeter watch. Charlie lay out an LZ." Rika ordered crisply as their little band of rescuees were looked over by a medic. As the teams rushed about to fulfill their orders none took notice of a small trash can that had miraculously never been hit and was still standing perfectly st… Or not. As soon as the teams weren't looking the trashcan sprouted legs and quickly and quietly, and most importantly unobserved, made its way closer to Connall and the ever fussy Shizuka as she and the medic worked to properly close up Connall's wounds.

"If I can't have him then no one can." Muttered Francis as he waited for an opportune moment to strike.

Before long there was a rhythmic thumping in the air and as soon as she heard it Rika began ordering the men back to the landing pad that Charlie team had set up and soon three Blackhawks crested the hill to the south and began their landing sequence. The choppers landed and their doors quickly opened allowing the teams to start boarding on two of them. The lead choppers doors opened to allow a striking woman to exit them.

Shizuka eyed the woman who appeared to be in her early 30's, although since she was from Connall's clan that meant nothing. She was about 180cm tall with deep red hair that reached to her shoulders; her green eyes glinting in the late afternoon light as she strode through the wreckage of the battlefield without a care in the world.

"Hey Connall, who is that?" Shizuka asked as she turned to the chair Connall had been resting in only to find him disappearing behind her as quickly as he could apparently trying to hide behind her as best he could.

"Shhhh. Stop talking. Maybe she'll overlook me." Connall whispered harshly as he continued to try and make himself as small as possible to avoid the woman's searching gaze.

"That is Lady Scathach. Famous in Celtic mythology as a legendary Scottish warrior woman and martial arts teacher who trains the legendary Ulster hero Cú Chulainn in the arts of combat. Although Connall usually calls her 'mom' when he's not scared shitless." Rika said as she stepped forward to great the now named Scathach, "Greetings my lady. How was the flight?"

"Oh Rika you should know better than that." Scathach replied, "Just call me mom. Afterall you'll be family soon enough. Now where is that no good word playing son of mine. He missed dinner." She continued with a scathing tone.

"Yipes!" Came a small voice from behind a trashcan before Connall popped his head up to greet his mother.

"Ha ha. Hi mom. I'm home?" Connall practically questioned as he slowly made his way closer.

"Hey honey." She replied in a sickly sweet tone of voice "Where were you?"

"Uh, around. You know running around seeing the world."

"Uh huh. And absolutely not getting caught by the one group I've warned you about since you were born doing their bidding like a common puppy only to break free just to get caught again just 'cause you were thinking with your little head?" She replied with her tone getting more and more frosty as she went on.

"Huh? No! I don't remember a thing about getting warned about a secret group that was out to get me. And I was not thinking with my little head mom. Hell I didn't even realize I liked any of them until that damn fuzz butt woke up in a rampage when I got drugged last night damn near raping Shizuka at the same mother fucking time!" Connall shouted "I don't remember much since it's been close to three hundred god damn years since I saw you last and the first thing you do is bitch me out for something I did while trying to protect you and the Clan. You know how I take everything on my own shoulders cause I prefer to take the hit rather than anyone else cause I know I can take it. And the only fucking reason I came back to this little slice of hell is because they had a gun to Shizuka's head and threatened to kill her if I didn't cooperate. So excuse me if I wanted to protect my loved ones the only way I could while you and the Clan were off vacationing in where the fuck ever." Connall finished with tears beginning in his eyes and his chest heaving with his pent up emotions pouring out.

Scathach looked sadly at her son as she opened her arms up. Connall wasted no time jumping into her embrace that he had missed for so long. Rika, Shizuka, and Saeko just stood by and watched as the strongest man they had ever know broke down in his mother's arms proving that while he was an absolute demon on the battlefield and acted like nothing affected him he still missed his family over the many years he had been gone.

"It's ok. I'm here now and I am never going to let you go." Scathach whispered into her son's ear as she continued to hold him.

'I knew it! I almost had him if I could have kept him a little while longer he would have been mine! It's that bitch's fault.' Francis cursed in his head as he watched from his hiding place 'Well if he likes her so much then it's only fitting that he fails to save her and is never allowed to love again.' He thought as he readied his handgun and a syringe.

As everyone was distracted by the heartwarming reunion between mother and son; none realized that the trash can just a scant few meters away started to wiggle silently and Francis exited his cramped hiding place. He snuck forward towards Shizuka as quietly as he could. But one being did notice. One with a vested interest in keeping his new master's mates alive and well. But before he could warn his new friend of the danger his mates were in…

"Aww. Such a touching reunion." Sneered Francis who was suddenly staring down enough artillery to turn back the red army in WW2. The only reason for him not being immediately eradicated was the gun he had to Shizuka's head.

"I'd suggest you put the weapons down but you wouldn't listen to me anyways." Francis said condescendingly, "So I'll say this: Inject yourself with this Experiment or I put a bullet in your bitch's head. Afterall the worst you can do is kill me." He finished with a grin knowing he had the winning hand. Since he wouldn't get out of this alive he might as well take that Thing's happiness with him.

The syringe that he was offering to Connall was filled with the most potent mix of chemicals that Death Watch could cook up and was designed to make the DNA strand of a human easier to manipulate; however, they were never successful and anything injected with the concoction so far took traits from anything it touched without end until the final product looked nothing like its original form and died in an extreme amount of pain as its body could no longer cope with the constant changes and gave up.

"Let her go before I do something I might actually regret later." Connall ordered as he extricated himself from his mother's embrace.

"Ah ah ah." Francis replied as he jabbed his pistol into the back of Shizuka's head "Take it and inject yourself or I ventilate her head. You have until I count to three. One. Two."

"Fine! Give me the syringe."

"No!" Shizuka cried. But Connall ignored her as he took the syringe and injected himself before collapsing on the ground as his body shook in pain as the serum took effect on the molecular level.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Francis cried out maniacally "You fool. That serum affects your very DNA. You take traits form anything you touch now until you'll finally die! You can't even hold your loved ones or you will take traits from them until you finally DIE!" He continued as he made his final mistake. He took his gun from Shizuka's head.

Shizuka, angered beyond all hope of rational thought, spun around driving the heel of her hand as hard as she could into Francis's floating ribs breaking them off and driving them into his lungs. Then, while he was still stunned she drove a nasty snap kick to his groin before executing a roundhouse kick to his face throwing him away from the group. Even as her own body attacked her as she was never meant to be a warrior she strode forward intent only on ending this cretin's life because of the harm he had brought to her loved one.

At the same time Scathach, Rika, and Saeko were torn between looking on at Connall in horror as they didn't know how to help him and watching as Shizuka took out her anger upon the man that had caused their loved one so much pain. Connall screamed as fresh pain wrought his body and so none saw as Francis brought up the pistol he had miraculously kept throughout his beat down and aimed at Shizuka before firing into her chest.

Connall upon hearing the shot fought through the pain before seeing the back of Shizuka's back erupt as the bullet tore through her body and a fountain of blood followed the bullets path before once again falling subject to the laws of physics raining Shizuka's blood upon him. At that moment several things happened that would change the course of Connall's life and the lives of countless others. The serum did as it was designed to do and began to incorporate some traits of Shizuka's onto Connall's DNA. What no one knew or could have foretold was the havoc that an entity within Connall could do with such a serum.

Angerd beyond reason at the assault of his mate Cerberus thrashed within Connall's subconscious wanting only the death of the one responsible; However, he alone saw what the serum was doing and reigning in his anger he changed the serum. Not in its capability to alter his friend's DNA but in its ability to constantly do so, changing not the purpose of the serum but its longevity and its severity.

The blood upon Connall's face was absorbed by the serum that then changed him changing him from a muscular well-built man into a buxom blond. As the pain subsided Connall marveled briefly at his changed body before the previous course of events emerged once more upon his mind. He shot up from the ground in time to watch as his beloved fell to the ground with a bullet wound in her chest near her heart. Connall flew into a rage seeing her fall and then focused his rage upon the man that was the cause of her pain.

Connall ran forward and with a mighty kick tore the man's head from his body and watched briefly as it continued sailing on its way out of sight.

"Shizuka! Talk to me. Please say something!" Connall begged the young woman as he tried to staunch the bleeding.

"It's too late Connall." Shizuka said softly before coughing up some blood. "I'm going to die."

"NO! No you can't die. How can we be together if you're dead?"

"We are already together. You marked me did you not and I'm with you now more than ever. Don't worry about me." She gasped with the last of her strength. "I'll be waiting for you." Shizuka promised before accepting the Reaper's hand and moving on with him.

"Shizuka? Shizuka! SHIZUKA!" Connall cried in desperation as he gently shook her corpse. No one said anything as no one knew how to comfort the grieving man. Scathach stepped forward shortly after and gently pulled Connall away from Shizuka's body leading him to a helicopter ordering for them to gather Shizuka's body and prepare to leave for home.


	9. Hope and a Portal

Several hours after Shizuka's death the strike team that had rescued Connall finally landed at their base deep within the mountains. However, their return was not greeted with fanfare and laughs but with a solemn quiet as the crew unloaded Shizuka's body to prepare for her funeral. None of the family recognized Connall at first because of the serum's effects but soon realized who the blond female was after reports and gossip began to flow between the returning teams and the rest of the group.

Scathach took her daughter, formerly son, and led her to the jeep that immediately took them to their house at the center of the fort for her to begin to recover. Scathach tried to cheer up her daughter if only a little bit by gently reminding her that Shizuka was in a better place and once she died they could meet again and they would have the rest of eternity together. None of this did any good and by the time they had reached the house Scathach had fallen silent knowing that as much as she hated it nothing but time could help her daughter at that time.

Connall barely registered anything after Shizuka's blood practically baptized him. He only knew that one of the few pillars in his life, even if it was one of the newest, had just been destroyed and there was nothing that he could do to fix it, and to make matters worse it also meant that he had broken a promise. There was nothing he could do, nothing anyone could do, to fix it. And so began the darkest years of his life.

187 years later

"Connall? Are you awake?" Scathach asked through the bedroom door.

"Yes. What is it?" Connall replied in a surly tone.

Scathach frowned upon hearing her daughter's tone. It had been almost two centuries since Shizuka had been murdered and Connall needed to get out of her funk and so help her Scathach was going to drag her back into reality whether her daughter wanted it or not.  
"That's it!" Scathach exclaimed as she broke down the door "Connall! By all that is good you will get out of that bed and get a smile on your face or so help me I will kick your ass six ways from Sunday. AM I CLEAR!"

"What's the point? Shizuka's dead and there is nothing I can do to change it. Even after all my big talk about our family never breaking a promise I go and break one less than a week after I made it." Connall bemoaned to herself before rolling over and ignoring her mother. Not even the jolt of changing genders had done more to her mood than get a passing glance and a heavy sigh.

Scathach had finally had enough, she walked to her daughter's bed, ripped the covers from over her before grabbing her by the short hairs and bodily dragging her to the bathroom and shoving Connall's head under the shower as it was going full blast.

"Are you awake yet?" Scathach asked as she pulled Connall's head from under the torrent of water.

"What the FU-Blub!" was all Connall got out before her mother shoved her head back under the stream of icy water and was held there.

"Dear madam this is your wake-up call to remind you to GET THE FUCK UP!" Scathach roared before continuing, "You made a promise to be there right!? So why the hell are you not even trying to get to where your beloved is?"

"COUGH COUGH What?" Connall sputtered as she tried to regain her breath.

"Sigh. Death isn't the end you ignoramus. If you had paid attention to me at all when you first got back, you would have known that I grabbed our best scientists and put them to work on a way to get her back. You've no doubt heard of the school of thought that death is simply another dimension for us to go to. Kind of like the idea of reincarnation only instead of coming back to earth you simply go to another plane of existence. Without the soul, the body dies so even if the soul came back there is no way for it to stay here. So, I had Shizuka's body cryogenically frozen and ordered our scientists to find a way for someone to go 'dimension hopping'." Scathach lectured her daughter as she regained control of her breathing and began to dry off.

"You mean to say that you came up with a way for me to jump dimensions and bring my Shizuka back from the dead?" Connall asked with something in his eyes that had been gone for far too long. Hope.

"Actually we finally cracked it a few years ago and I've been waiting for you to snap out of your funk and finally pull your balls back out of your purse and bring this up of your own volition but her death had too great an impact on you to be overcome on your own so I decided that it was best to drag you out of whatever hole you put yourself in all those years ago and give you a good boot in the ass to get a move on. You have a fiancé and another girl who followed you here in the middle of hell raining down on earth who you have ignored since you got here."

Connall's mind finally clicked as he remembered Saeko and Rika were both in the fort and, if the fuzzy wuzzy puppy in his subconscious was correct, loved him. "Ha." Connall scoffed as he gathered his thoughts again, "Guess I haven't been the best host of our guests, have I?"

"No. No you haven't. Now come-on, we must get you up to speed with what's going on if you want to have a chance at getting your girl back. By the way, hope you like lace. I decided that since you wouldn't help pick your new clothes after your unwanted change that I would choose for you." Scathach cackled as she left the bathroom.

"WHAT?!" Connall yelled mortified.

/Timeskip/

After Connall was forcibly dragged back to planet Earth by her mother, and nearly having a coronary at the thought of her mother dressing her as a girl and in lace no less, Connall began to slowly regain the skills that she allowed to rust and fall into disuse since her arrival. 5 years after Scathach gave her daughter a reason to continue she declared that her daughter was finally fit to enter the wormhole and try to track down where her daughter's new girlfriend was. All of this finally leading to the current day.

/End Timeskip/

"Alright. Reactor is holding steady at 95%. Coolant is good. Emitters are good. We are ready to commence portal creation and uplink." A random technician reported.

"Good. And are we sure that this is where Shizuka ended up. I do not need to be waiting another couple centuries to be able to talk to my daughter again. Damn. That still sounds weird." Scathach replied.

"As sure as we can be without having done this before ma'am. There is no precedent to what we are trying to accomplish, and this goes against almost every medical ethics code in existence. So, in short, we have no clue if your daughter will even survive this with her sanity intact. I mean we could be dropping her into Cthulhu's hometown for all we know." The technician answered.

"Ok. And with that ringing endorsement lets light this popsicle stand." Connall interrupted having entered the main control center just in time to hear the techs concerns.

Connall's outfit hadn't changed much if at all even after her unexpected changes. She still wore old military combat fatigues and carried around enough explosives and weapons to take over most second-world countries before the Event. (Event = Zombies)

The technicians began hurrying about for last second adjustments before "We are go for portal." Echoed about the control center and in the center of the room a large circular object almost 30 feet in diameter began to crackle and sputter as it's emitters began to break down the laws of physics at the molecular level and in the center a tear began to develop in the center of the circle.

"Holy Shit. It worked." Muttered one scientist as he crossed himself at the monumental accomplishment that they had just completed. However, there were no yells of congratulations or cheers at completing such a historic and challenging task; there was merely a feeling of anticipation because they had helped their future clan head in fulfilling her promise to her loved one and they upheld their familial honor.

"I want you back as soon as possible. Do you hear me young lady?" Scathach warned her daughter.

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You act like I meant to stay away for so long on purpose. Although if I'd known how many suitors would be chasing me after all these years even after hearing about Shizuka's alternate state of being I probably would have stayed away a whole lot longer." Connall replied.

"Oh, Shut up. You and I both know that that is something neither of us have any control over so shut up and make sure you don't lollygag around the new places. I want to meet the last of my future daughter in laws soon."

"MOM! I've agreed to nothing with any of them yet, so you are putting the cart long before the horse." Connall yelled mortified that her mother was saying these things in public especially when there was nothing concrete about any of it yet. (*cough BULLSHIT cough*)

"You and I both know that you love these girls with all your heart so why don't you just get going so that you can be back in time for dinner?"

"Fine but you never did tell me how you managed to keep Saeko alive all this time especially since she should have been dead years ago. Not that I'm complaining."

"Cryogenically freezing her until we perfected the cloning process and now we just keep transferring her mind between the cloned bodies until we come up with a better solution."

"That's a rather round-a-bout way to accomplish immortality. But hey, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Am I right?"

"Sometimes but not very often." Came a snarky reply from the entrance to the control room as Rika walked in with a Saeko clone.

"Rika, do not make me have to teach you manners again." Connall shot back.

"Like that time, we were 5 and I sent you to the hospital without trying?" Rika riposted.

"Rika 56, Connall 7." Saeko chimed in as she made another mark in a notebook that she had pulled out of nowhere.

"And now its time for a tactical withdraw." Connall defended.

"Why keep putting off the inevitable and just declare me the winner?" Rika asked playfully.

"Because I still remember what's at stake with our bet so not a chance in hell." Connall stated firmly with a slight blush on his cheeks.

"What's this about a bet?" Scathach interrupted.

"Um. NOTHING." Both Rika and Connall replied.

"Why do I not believe you?" Scathach deadpanned.

"Oh Dear, look at the time I do believe that I need to get going so that I can make it to dinner on time. So, I'll be going now, and we can pick up this conversation never." Connall said before bolting over to her supplies and throwing them on her back.

Scathach and company waved off Connall as she set off into the unknown.

After entering the portal Connall entered a strange world where all she could see was strange creatures, floating islands, and weirdly dressed people. The natives of this land just stared at Connall and as the portal collapsed behind her only then did they snap to their senses before running around like chickens with their heads cut off upon seeing someone pop into their city through an unknown gateway.

"What the fuck?" Connall eloquently stated as she watched the 'people?' around her panic before having enough and climbing onto the closest roof so that she could get a better view of this strange land that she was in.

Connall didn't get far before 'THWIP!' "OUCH" 'THUD' she got tranquilized by the local police force of the area.

"Uhhhh what the fuck"

"BZZZZZ! You are fined one credit for"

"Huh? The hell"

"BZZZZZ! You are fined one credit for"

"Will you shut the hell"

"BZZZZZ! You are fined one credit for"

"That's it!" Connall snapped as she stood from the chair she was cuffed to before ripping a small machine off the wall mid-sentence before crushing it against the floor.

"God damn that thing was annoying. Bad enough I get drugged AGAIN but then having to deal with that noise maker before getting something for this damn headache."

"What the?!" How are you up?" a man yelled after rushing into the room to see what was causing the commotion.

"That's easy. You use these things called legs and you do this crazy thing called stand. Now here's a better question where's the dead fuck that drugged me so that I can fix that nasty breathing habit that he has?" Connall replied sarcastically.

"What? You can't threaten a member of the HPD like that! You'll be lucky if we just decide to send you back to wherever you came from in one piece for the chaos that you've caused."

"Listen pal. I don't give a flying fornication who the hell you think you are or what your damn authority over me is. But if you think for one picosecond that I am going back home without my girl you got another think coming. I've been stabbed, shot, beaten, drugged, electrocuted, …." Connall continued for the next several minutes going over her experiences before "and let's not forget being altered at the genetic level into becoming a chick. How the fuck bitches even deal with the monthly cycle is beyond me but its mother fucking annoying as hell. Now since you're apparently some sorta cop here this is what I need: Directions to a hot as fuck nurse that goes by the name of Shizuka Marikawa. And I need that information toot fucking sweet, so I can take her home. Or I can just level this entire city to the ground until I find her and then go home."

The guard stood there in shocked silence not only at Connall's life but also at what she had threatened to do.

"Do you have the first clue at what you're saying?! What you just said constitutes a first-class offence which is punishable by having your very soul sent to the 13th circle of hell! And that's if the Valkyries don't petition for you first. And they don't have mercy in their dictionary." The guard said panicking.

"Are Valkyries the boss round these parts?" Connall asked calmly as she was pretty sure they weren't although they had to be close to the top to get this poor schmuck this panicked.

"No, but they are the best fighters in the realm and they are they guards of god."

"Well, here's the thing. I came here to get my girl back. Anyone who gets in my way will be run over. Now lets just skip the posturing, the dick measuring and the bull shit and jump straight to the part where you tell me where the Valkyries HQ is, so I can walk in, kick ass, and find my girl before heading out. Savvy?"

"But, but, but... oh poop. They're at the end of the setting sun. The fastest way there is to head straight to the highest island and look for the Golden Gate." The guard said resigned to at least give this poor doomed soul the directions to her demise.

"Many Thanks kind sir. Now, where's my stuff? I got a hankerin' fer some good ol' Little Debbie Swiss Rolls right about now." Connall said drooling slightly at the thought of her favorite treat.

"Umm sorry but all of your things are in the hands of the Valkyries. It's the law that any weapons found be turned over to them so that they can learn anything they can that might make their weapons more efficient."

"Oh cool. Wait a minute! That means they put their grubby paws all over my stuff! Do you have any idea what the hell that means? I spent 3 days getting everything just right in my pack and now those bitches are fucking around with my shit! They'll be lucky if I just kill them for screwing with my brand-new stuff. I haven't even gotten to use any of it off the range yet." Connall bitched.

"Wait a minute. You're going against the strongest military force around and you're pissed that they took your snack? Are you brain damaged?" The guard asked incredulously.

"Probably. Any way thanks for the directions. Gotta go. Oh, and sorry but I can't have you raising the alarm just yet so night night nigger." Connall replied gleefully as she rushed the guard and knocked him out.

After knocking out the poor sap that was unlucky enough to get in her way Connall snuck out of the building that they had dragged her in, which the sign said was Heaven's Police Department, and continued on her way to the setting sun which seemed to be in the exact same place as it was when she had first arrived. Which meant either she was knocked out for exactly 24 hours, not out for more than 10 minutes, or the setting sun was locked in place.

Either way Connall didn't care as she was on her way now and nothing was going to stop her from getting to Shizuka.

After a few hours of navigating her way through the city Connall found herself on the edge of the island itself and now "Where are the damn stairs? You'd think with floating islands they'd have stairs, escalator, rope ladder, or something. Cause I've seen a distinct lack of wings for all these dipshits to be angels." Connall bitched to herself.

"Halt. Who stands before the Golden Gates?" A booming voice asked from the floating island.

"A crazy ass mother fucker with a bad attitude and a penchant for blowing shit up. Who's asking?" Connall shouted seemingly to the ether.

"I am the guardian of the gate. Why dost thou speak with such a crass tongue. Dost thou not know that such language is banned in this realm? Leave and return when thou dost learn to speak civilly with your betters."

"One, I speak two languages; English and bad English. And two; Oh no you did not! You think your better than me shit stick. Listen here pal, I am here for exactly one reason. You are not that reason. Now either let me up so I can bitch slap whoever took my Little Debbie Swiss Rolls or I'm gonna come over there and beat the shit out of you before commencing the bitch slapping." Connall responded more than a little pissed that someone who had yet to face her in battle considered themselves to be her better.

"Foolish youngling. I have guarded these gates for nigh on 400 years and you think to command me?! I who have fought gods and demons and have never been beaten. Only once have these gates been opened since I was posted here, and they were for a mortal who is far beyond you."

"Was that mortal blond, big tits, bout 5 foot 6, and came through a little over 100 years ago?" Connall interrupted the guardian.

"What dost thou think? She was far more beautiful than any other woman here and was summoned by god to stay by his side forever."

"Oh good. Then I'm close. Wait a minute; summoned to stay by his side. As in some fucker Ordered MY SHIZUKA to stay with THEM! OH FUCK NO. THAT'S IT. SOMEBODY BETTER OPEN THIS GODDAMN GATE TOOT FUCKING SWEET BEFORE I GO FULL ON POSTAL ON YOUR CANDY ASSES!" Connall roared at the thought of his girl being forced to be with someone else. Let it be known his clan never did like rapists or anyone that came close to their loved ones. I mean this is as bad as kidnapping Chuck Norris's daughter and murdering his wife.

Before the guardian had a chance to respond Connall started marching straight over the abyss that stood before him making his way up to the next island seemingly marching on thin air.

'Impossible! The only ones that can gather the energy necessary to march on the air like it was solid ground are Captain-Class Valkyries. How can this new mortal do so?' The guardian asked himself as Connall quickly approached the top of the island.

"Halt where you are you filthy rat. I don't know how you managed that trick, but you are a 1000 years too early to manage to fool me with such paltry tricks. I know you can't possibly have the skill to do what you are trying to show. Leave or be destroyed."

"Yeah. I choose option C. Kick your ass. Kick the Valkyries asses. Kick your gods ass. Then take my Shizuka and get home in time for dinner before I'm late and mom comes to fetch me. And may God have mercy on your souls should you drag my mom here. She's nowhere near as nice as I am."

"Then DIE!" The guardian shouted as he launched a fireball at Connall.

"Oh. Elemental attacks. Whatever shall I do?" Connall deadpanned before "Oh right. This. Water Style: Return to Sender." As the fireball raged closer Connall reached out with his bare hands before seemingly grabbing the fireball out of the air and spinning in place before letting it go right back at the guardian.

"Wha" before the Guardian had a chance to defend himself the fireball he fired smashed into him sending him straight through the gates that he boasted he had defended for so long.

"Not even worth calling a warm-up." Connall grumbled before heading further into the second city.

Little did Connall know that destroying the gates in such a way had alerted the entire Valkyrie Corp to his arrival as well as announcing his intentions to the local god.


End file.
